Can you deal with the Disciplinary and Grievance Processes Simultaneously?

Acas states that "where an employee raises a grievance during a disciplinary process, the disciplinary process may be temporarily suspended in order to deal with the grievance". This means that the best practice is for you to put the disciplinary process on hold until the grievance is dealt with.

However, where the grievance and disciplinary matters are related, it may be appropriate to deal with both issues simultaneously. It is up to your discretion to decide whether or not this is the best way to deal with the issue. If you take this approach, you should make sure that you are still following proper procedure when addressing the employee's grievance.

In a recent employment tribunal case, a bus driver, who was in the process of being disciplined raised a grievance against her managers and claimed that they were guilty of bullying. Her employer did not put the disciplinary process on hold to address her grievance and instead dealt with the two issues concurrently. The employee was dismissed and claimed unfair dismissal against her employer. The employment tribunal ruled that this dismissal was fair- although best practice, it is sometimes appropriate not to put the disciplinary process on hold.

Acas provides some examples of circumstances in which it could be considered appropriate to deal with these matters concurrently and when it would be best to put the disciplinary process on hold. Do not always assume that it is safe to deal with the issues concurrently, as the best practice is still to put the process on hold. Always investigate how the two matters are related before making a decision.