HR Industry News

Internal grievance procedures futile says report

— 25 May 2007 —

Employees who have tried to resolve disputes under new equality regulations have ended up facing demotion, dismissal, mental health problems and even contemplated suicide - new research has found.

The research by the Institute for Employment studies and the conciliation service ACAS is the first study into the impact of the employment equality regulations on sexual orientation and religion or belief, which were introduced in 2003.

The research suggests that internal workplace grievance procedures are flawed and do not provide a way to resolve these issues - encouraging more people to resort to an employment tribunal.

Analysis by ACAS shows that between January 2004 and September 2006, 470 individuals brought tribunal claims where the main allegation concerned discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. There were also 461 cases of discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

The claimants regarded following internal grievance procedures as futile and the involvement of unsuitable managers, sometimes complicit or active in the original discrimination experience, was also an issue.

Author of the report, Ann Denvir, said that there is a tendency of their employers to respond to their complaints by seeing them as the problem, rather than the victims of unfair treatment.

Justice, rather than financial compensation, was the main motivation for filing a tribunal claim, she added.

Jo Jobson, Head of HR at Ceridian, adds, “A regulatory change will invariably never succeed in its primary intention without an organisational intervention. In the case of this study, the common practise of establishing “hard facts” must be adapted. Instead, the validity of an applicant’s claim must be decided by reviewing the information from the applicant’s point of view. For many, this will be a very different personal perspective.

"The positive news, as we consistently demonstrate, is that when aware of a need, all businesses will respond, train and develop to improve their capability to manage and positively effect change. And we at Ceridian can help.”

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