The Importance of undertaking a proper grievance investigation.

A female employee recently hired by a transport company was sent peach text emojis widely known as the bottom emojis by her line manager.

Despite rejecting his advances, the manager also called the employee when he was drunk stating he was jealous of her spending time with another male employee and that they should move abroad together.

The employee raised a grievance with the company over the managers behaviour. Upon undertaking the grievance investigation the company accepted the managers defence, effectively siding with the manager.

Subsequent to this, the employee resigned and brought a claim for constructive dismissal, sex-based harassment and victimisation.

At tribunal, the employee was awarded £419,352, including £24,000 for injury to feelings and £30,000 for psychiatric injury.

In this case, the company had failed to undertake a proper grievance investigation, give due consideration to the impact the situation had on the employee, and despite knowing what the manager had done, the company still decided to side with the manager.  

Conclusions

The first line of a defence for any company when faced with this type of situation, is to undertake a proper formal investigation. This will allow the employer to make an informed decision after a full consideration of all facts.

Making a decision without carrying out a reasonable investigation can make the outcome for the grievance investigation unfair, or even discriminatory, exposing employers to significant legal and reputational risks.