Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

PEOPLE ISSUES
4.95 Furthermore, in the light of the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution)
Regulations 2004, which impose minimum requirements for handling grievances, it
is now crucial that organisations have effective dispute resolution procedures. If an
Applicant does not take advantage of an internal resolution procedure, he or she
may be prevented from presenting a claim. On the other hand, if the employer is in
breach of the minimum requirements, a successful Applicant can be awarded
increased compensation.
“We would certainly favour the use of mediation, we would certainly favour the use of
informal resolution where it is possible to do so. You can get into a very messy process
whereby you have to go through an attempt to resolve things informally before you can take
things forward formally, but it is our view that many of the matters that end up being bogged
down in very formal grievance procedures or disciplinary processes could have been resolved
at an earlier stage in an informal way.” (Evidence of Lord Harris, former Chair of the MPA.)
4.96 Whilst we believe that mediation should be encouraged both before and, if
necessary, after the formal process has been invoked, we also recognise that it may
not be appropriate in all cases and, while the regulations governing discipline are
still in place, it may not be possible to engage in such a process.
“The main danger is there could be a potential serious allegation of discrimination that is
actually dealt with under the grievance process and mediated away. Now that is unacceptable,
and we have to have checks and balances in place to make sure that that does not happen.”
(Evidence of William Pickup, HM Customs & Excise.)
4.97 We see important benefits arising from its early use, which may help save the
organisation a substantial amount of energy and resource by resolving issues
quickly.
4.98 This is frequently what the individuals who raise grievances and even
Employment Tribunal claims really want. Ms LL, one of the individuals who gave
evidence to us, was asked to identify one issue, from her submission to the Inquiry
and her evidence, that she felt merited greater importance and that she would like
to see included in our report:
“Early mediation. Talk to us. If I could have talked to somebody who had the authority, the
power, the sanction to do something, I probably would not be sitting here today.”
4.99 We see the pilot study in Thames Valley Police as providing a useful analogy
for the type of approach that we propose:
“Now there are some good examples round the country, you asked earlier; I would point you
towards Thames Valley police, who have a grievance procedure which says really two things: one
is that all employees are expected to resolve issues at the earliest possible opportunity, and to
take some responsibility for making that happen; and secondly, that if they get stuck with the
person they are trying to resolve it with, there is immediate access to external mediators who
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