Most employers take a common sense approach to complaints, and try to deal with them informally initially. Recent case law suggests that today this is dangerous once a complaint has been put in writing, even if it is just in an email.

If you do not resolve the case to the employee’s satisfaction they can later on claim that you failed to follow the statutory grievance procedure. Tribunals have interpreted complaints as grievances when they are "minimal" in terms of content, even when they do not refer to the statutory procedures or when the sender has not asked for any action to be taken.

In a recent case even the employee originally classed the matter as an informal grievance. However, when their case went to court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal found that ‘informal’ was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Statutory Grievance Procedure. For good measure they awarded a punitive 50% uplift on the award for compensation made against the employer.

The danger of treating any written complaint informally now is very high, and it can be equally costly. You cannot even ignore a resignation letter that goes on to raise complaints about how they were treated. Treat it seriously - ignore the contents at your peril.

So once any form of complaint is put in writing, you must respond rather than ignore the matter. Reply in writing, deal with the complaint by stating what your position is.

This will stand you in good stead, even when you fail to resolve anything, or if the employee insists that they are not presenting a formal grievance.

Key points:
• Both employers and employees are required to follow the statutory grievance procedures when dealing with workplace complaints.
• It will be the Employment Tribunal that will establish whether or not the complaint amounted to a grievance for the purpose of the procedures.
• If an employer fails to comply with statutory grievance procedures a tribunal can uplift any award made against an employer by a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50%.
• In cases where compensation is uncapped, such as discrimination claims, the amount of the uplift can be substantial.
• Employers should respond to any written complaint by following the statutory grievance procedures.