Unfair treatment at work: Your rights

If you have a problem (grievance) at work, it’s usually a good idea to raise it informally first. Getting things sorted out as quickly and as close to the problem as possible is often the best way for all concerned. But what if you’ve tried your best and nothing’s changed?

A grievance procedure is a formal way of raising a problem or complaint to your employer. There will be a formal policy, procedure and guidance for you to follow so first steps are to get hold of copies to find out:

• How to raise a formal grievance
• Who you should send it to
• What the full grievance procedure is

If you’re not sure how to get this information, we can help you with that. You can raise a formal grievance if:

• You feel that raising it informally hasn’t worked
• You don’t want it dealt with informally
• It’s a very serious issue, for example sexual harassment or ‘whistleblowing’

We've created an interactive guide, which will provide you with guidance on:

• the grievance & harassment resolution policy
• an introduction to equality law - what it is and what it means for you
• understanding what discrimination and harassment are
• the informal and formal options that are available to you to resolve work-related issues
• the help you can get from the union on tackling workplace issues, including how to write a complaint letter when things can't be resolved
• additional support and services which may help you

Don’t suffer in silence. Accord are here to listen to your individual circumstances, explain any internal policies, procedures, or guidance that you need to be aware of and get you copies if you can’t access the information yourself. We’ll advise you on how best we think you should take your concerns forward and help you to shape your arguments.

• Read our interactive eBite guidance for detailed information on your options available, the process and the support available from the union.
• Find and contact your local Accord rep or Officer.
• Check out this guidance from Acas for more information on bullying, harassment & discrimination.

If you decide the best course of action is to raise a formal grievance, you may need help to put your complaint in writing.

Grievances are normally submitted via your line manager, your manager's manager or via HR.

Accord has a grievance letter template and grievance appeal template which can be used to help you formulate your complaint. The Accord team will help you prepare your case too which may include discussing your options, reviewing evidence, helping you structure your thoughts, thinking about witnesses you want to be questioned as part of your complaint, and what you're looking for as a result.

You can read more about discrimination on our discrimination guidance page on our website, plus we've created an interactive eBite guide to help you understand your rights at work.

If at risk of redundancy we've created further guidance to help you understand your right at work in redundancy situations including pregnancy & maternity rights.

There's also some great guidance available from Acas on discrimination.