Grievance about manager bullying

Hello! I am Gemma, a legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer. I am so sorry to hear you are dealing with this. I would be glad to help you understand your options.

Yes, you absolutely have the right to raise a grievance about bullying by your manager. If you are being treated badly at work, using your employer's grievance procedure is exactly what you are supposed to do.

The legal position:

In England and Wales, all employers have a legal duty of care towards their staff. This means they must provide a safe working environment, which includes protecting your physical and mental health.

In employment law, there is a technical difference between bullying and harassment. Bullying is generally general offensive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour that undermines or humiliates you.

Harassment is similar behaviour, but legally it specifically happens because of a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. These characteristics include things like your age, sex, race, disability, religion, or sexual orientation. If your manager's bullying is linked to something like this, it makes the legal position much stronger as it could be considered discrimination.

If the bullying is so severe that it completely destroys the trust and confidence between you and your employer, and you feel forced to resign because they failed to protect you, this can sometimes lead to a claim for constructive unfair dismissal. However, resigning is a drastic step with high legal risks behind it, so it is usually much better to try and fix the problem while you are still employed.

Practical next steps:

Here is a sensible path for dealing with this kind of situation.

1. Gather your evidence. Start keeping a private diary of exactly what happens. Write down the dates, times, locations, what was said, and the names of anyone else who saw it. Save copies of any undermining emails, messages, or unfair performance reviews. Specific examples are far more powerful than a general complaint.

2. Read your workplace policies. Check your staff handbook or company intranet for policies on bullying, harassment, and grievances. This will tell you the exact process your employer expects you to follow and who you should speak to.

3. Consider an informal approach. If you feel safe doing so, you can tell the manager that their behaviour is making you uncomfortable and ask them to stop. If you cannot face them, you could ask your human resources department or another manager to have a quiet word with them. Often, a swift informal conversation can stop bad behaviour before it escalates.

4. Raise a formal written grievance. If the informal approach has not worked, or if the bullying is simply too serious for a quick chat, write a formal grievance letter. Explain clearly what has happened, refer to the evidence you have collected, and state how the situation is affecting your health or work. You should hand this to human resources or a manager who is senior to the person bullying you.

5. Attend a grievance meeting. Your employer must hold a meeting to discuss your formal complaint. You have the legal right to bring a colleague or a trade union representative into this meeting with you for support. After the meeting, your employer will investigate and give you a written decision.

6. Appeal if necessary. If your employer decides against you, or if they suggest a solution that does not actually protect you, you will have the right to appeal their decision. The appeal should ideally be handled by a different, more senior manager.

Things to keep in mind:

If your employer's internal process does not fix the problem, you have the option of taking the matter further. The next step would be contacting Acas for a process called Early Conciliation. Acas is a government-funded body that helps resolve workplace disputes.

Please be aware that employment tribunals have very strict time limits. You generally only have three months minus one day from the date the bullying or harassment happened to start the Acas Early Conciliation process. It is important to keep this deadline in mind, even if your internal grievance process is taking a long time.