Grievance issues

• Q1. What is a grievance?
• Q2. Do we have to have a written grievance procedure?
• Q3. I've heard there is a new Acas Code of Practice on grievance procedures. Do I have to follow it?
• Q4. I've already got a grievance procedure. Do I need a new one?
• Q5. Surely there are circumstances when I can just ignore the Acas Code?
• Q6. How do I recognise when an employee has submitted a grievance?
• Q7. Can an employee ignore my grievance procedure and go straight to the Employment Tribunal?
• Q8. What if the person making the grievance is no longer an employee?
• Q9. What should we include in our grievance procedure?
• Q10. How do we go about drawing up and introducing a grievance procedure?
• Q11. A grievance has been raised in the middle of a disciplinary procedure - what do we do?
• Q12. An employee is saying he is going to file a grievance. Can we settle matters without going through the formal procedure?
• Q13. An employee who has lodged a grievance says he has a right to a 'companion' at the meeting. Is that true and what does the companion do?
• Q14. We are going to have to conduct a formal grievance procedure. What do we have to do?
• Q15. We've given our decision but an employee says he wants to appeal. What happens now?