For November 2025, we have asked the employment team at Tughans LLP to provide practical answers to unusual, sensitive or complex work-related queries. We call this feature “How do I handle it?”

The articles are aimed at HR professionals and other managers who may need to deal, from time to time, with the less commonplace disputes at work; issues that may, if handled incorrectly, lead to claims for discrimination, constructive dismissal or some other serious difficulty. 
 

When an employee makes a complaint, you should take steps to resolve it fairly following your internal processes. This can be challenging for smaller businesses with fewer staff to be able to investigate and manage the complaint. However, the same rules for dealing with complaints apply to businesses of all sizes, and it is important to consider how you can provide your employee with a fair and balanced process.  

As a starting point, you should consider both the complaint and your internal grievance policy and identify whether the employee’s concerns should be dealt with informally, or formally through the grievance process. You may have other more suitable processes, such as a separate bullying and harassment procedure. The LRA Code of Practice advises that you should aim to resolve grievances informally where appropriate. You should be guided by the employee's preference and the nature of the complaints raised. 

If their concerns will be dealt with under the formal grievance procedure, they will usually need to be investigated before a decision is made. This will usually involve meeting the employee and other relevant persons and potentially considering documents or other evidence. The investigator should be someone who is suitably independent and free from potential adverse influence from the Shift Manager. The ACAS guidance on carrying out a workplace investigations states that the investigator should be “fair and objective” and this is similarly best practice in Northern Ireland. 

The investigator would ideally be someone more senior than the Shift Manager, such as their manager. You could also consider whether a manager at another site could investigate. You should ensure that the investigator is not involved or the subject of the complaints to avoid any conflict of interest or bias, which could lead to allegations that your process is procedurally unfair. Whoever investigates should ideally have been trained in workplace investigations and familiar with your grievance procedure. 

This can naturally cause practical difficulties in smaller businesses, with a smaller pool of uninvolved managers to choose from. If you cannot identify a suitable manager to investigate, you might consider two further options. The first is whether you can ask someone on your board of directors, such as a non-executive director, to investigate. NEDs can be particularly well suited to this role, as they are not involved in the day to day running of the business, and should be free to act impartially when reaching their findings and making recommendations for further action. 

The second option is to engage the services of an external HR consultant to investigate the grievance. While this approach will naturally incur additional cost, there are a number of benefits. If the complaints relate to sensitive, serious interpersonal issues, the involvement of an expert from outside the business can help demonstrate your commitment to providing a fair and unbiased investigation. The employee may feel you are taking their complaints seriously, which will encourage trust, and perhaps reduce the likelihood of an appeal or external complaint if they disagree with the external consultant’s findings.

More practically, involving an external consultant will hopefully reduce the time you are required to dedicate to the investigation, which can be very demanding and disruptive. 

After the investigation, you can complete the grievance hearing and deliver your outcome. You should be mindful from the outset that the employee will have the right to appeal your decision. This can add further difficulty for a small business when deciding who should investigate, and who should conduct the grievance hearing. You will preferably reserve a more senior manager for any appeal. This can make appointing an external investigator more appealing. 

If you do not provide a fair grievance investigation, there is a risk that the employee will resign, alleging that this was a repudiatory breach of contract and that they have been constructively unfairly dismissed.