Employers Procedures Set In Stone?
16th November 2007
In a judgement handed down on 16 October 2007, the EAT has ruled on a union’s refusal to depart from it’s own grievance procedure. Ms Brown had a grievance against her line manager, a regional secretary of the GMB, arising from various factors which resulted in a breakdown of their working relationship. The Union grievance procedure provided that her line manager should hear the first stage grievance hearing. As the grievance concerned her line manager and she was suffering from stress arising from the situation, the Claimant asked for someone other than the line manager to hear the grievance. The manager refused to vary the contractual grievance procedure, which led to months of argument, stress absence and the eventual resignation of the Claimant.
The ET held, and the EAT upheld, that the GMB's refusal to depart from the grievance procedure amounted to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. As such, the Claimant's constructive dismissal claim succeeded. The full text of the decision can be found by clicking: GMB Union v Brown.