The Acas Code of Practice provides practical guidance to employers and employees setting out the basic principles of fairness for handling disciplinary and grievance situations at work. Although a failure to follow the Code does not, in itself, make an employer or organisation liable to proceedings, any unreasonable failure to comply with its provisions will be taken into account by an employment tribunal if the matter proceeded that far.

Everyone is a hundred different things, but in other people’s eyes we usually get the chance to be only one of them.” In the end, the events of the subsequent ten years are sketched out. Maya is a popular guitarist and has a chance encounter with Kevin (who is now married). Maya recognizes Kevin and realizes she can expose him in public but chooses not to. When he leaves shaken, his wife asks him who Maya is, and Kevin tells her the whole truth. The worst thing we know about other people is that we’re dependent upon them. That their actions affect our lives. Not just the people we choose, the people we like, but all the rest of them: the idiots. You who stand in front of us in every line, who can’t drive properly, who like bad television shows and talk too loud in restaurants and whose kids infect our kids with the winter vomiting bug at preschool. You who park badly and steal our jobs and vote for the wrong party. You also influence our lives, every second.” They run only where there are lights. They don’t say anything but are both thinking the same thing: guys never think about light, it just isn’t a problem in their lives. When guys are scared of the dark, they’re scared of ghosts and monsters, but when girls are scared of the dark, they’re scared of guys.”Having listened to the nature of the grievance, considered any evidence put forward and asked any questions, you must make a decision as to what action, if any, is appropriate. Where necessary, the meeting should be adjourned for further investigations to be undertaken. Where the complaint is about someone else, for example, another member of staff, this could involve interviewing the alleged perpetrator(s) and any witnesses to incidents described, and carrying out any other necessary investigations to establish all the facts. Death does that to us, it’s like a phone call, you always remember exactly what you should have said the moment you hang up. Now there’s just an answering machine full of memories at the other end, fragments of a voice that are getting weaker and weaker.” You must also make the individual aware of their statutory right to be accompanied at the disciplinary hearing, as this could result in the taking of some disciplinary action. A long marriage consists of such small things that when they get lost we don’t even know where to start looking for them….In the end the weight of carrying each other’s broken hearts becomes unbearable.”

It is important to remember that when disciplining a member of staff for making a malicious or vexatious complaint, you must take into account any explanation that may mitigate the seriousness of what they have done, for example, stress or mental health issues, or even underlying workplace problems such as bullying, harassment or discrimination that may have led the complainant to behave in such a way. Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the town’s enmity with Hed grows more and more acute. Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” Any workplace grievance, even if thought to be made maliciously, must still be approached in the same way as any other grievance at work. This means that it must be handled fairly and lawfully, always applying a presumption from the outset that the complaint has been made in good faith, unless and until there is clear evidence to the contrary.This is an interesting podcast featuring an interview with Gail Honeyman, author of “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.” That said, even where it is obvious that the complaint is false or unfounded, an accurate record should still be retained as to what action was taken and how the matter was resolved. This may potentially be the first in a long line of malicious or vexatious complaints, that could at some stage result in a formal grievance or even a tribunal claim, so it important to show that on each and every occasion the matter complained of was approached fairly and lawfully. The complicated thing about good and bad people alike is that most of us can be both at the same time.” Further, where there is no clear evidence that a grievance was made in bad faith, you must exercise caution when deciding to discipline an employee for raising an ill-founded grievance. This could, in itself, result in a valid and wholly founded claim for victimisation. This is because treating anyone less favourably or subjecting them to a detriment at work because they have brought a complaint can amount to unlawful victimisation. This applies even where a complaint is suspected to be malicious or vexatious. In some cases, the person against whom the false complaint has been made may themselves choose to raise a grievance against the original complainant that will require investigation.

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All complaints, even if thought to be made with malicious or vexatious intent, should be thoroughly investigated in accordance with your internal grievance procedures. If you don’t have any grievance procedure in place, as an absolute minimum you must still follow the steps set out under the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. You must communicate your decision to the complainant in writing, again without unreasonable delay, together with what action will be taken. The complainant must also be informed of their right to appeal this decision if they are not content with the outcome, or if they feel that any part of the grievance procedure was wrong or unfair.