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Should an employer postpone a disciplinary hearing to hear a grievance?

In the recent case of Jinadu v Docklands Buses Limited & Ors, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether an employer was under an obligation to postpone a disciplinary hearing to consider an emloyee's grievance.

Ms Jinadu was a bus driver whose driving was considered to be unsatisfactory following a complaint from another road user. Following an investigation, she was instructed to attend an in-house driving assessment. She refused to attend, saying her manager was using his position to bully her and that she was being made a "scapegoat". As a result of her refusal to attend, she was invited to a disciplinary hearing and subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct.

Ms Jinadu brought proceedings for unfair dismissal (amongst other matters) and the Tribunal found that her dismissal was fair. She appealed against this decision on a number of grounds, most notably that the disciplinary procedure ought to have been suspended for a short period while her grievances were dealt with.

The EAT dismissed this ground of appeal by stating only that the employer was not obliged to put the disciplinary investigation on hold. The judgment does not elaborate upon the reasons for this decision so cannot be relied upon as an authoritative statement of the law. It does, however, serve as a reminder that a fact-specfic approach ought to be taken to the question of whether the raising of a grievance should, require the pausing of the disciplinary process. 

There will undoubtedly be occasions when this would likely be appropriate, such as where an employee complains of bias or discrimination by the disciplinary officer, but this case confirms that the mere existence of a grievance by the employee is not by itself sufficient to require the entire disciplinary process to be put on hold pending resolution of the grievance.