UK: dismissal for refusal to formally progress multiple grievances could be fair

Employers should tread carefully where an employee raises a grievance but is unwilling to progress it formally.  This can be understandable and not uncommon in relation to bullying or harassment allegations, and sensitivity is required in handling such cases.  However, in other contexts, it may well be unreasonable for an employee to raise numerous complaints and expect to leave them unresolved so they can be resurrected at whim.  Where a grievance has not been resolved informally, it may be reasonable for the employer to require the employee to cooperate in pursuing it formally or withdraw it, in fairness to the other persons involved; a refusal to do so could be misconduct.

In Hope v British Medical Association the Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the tribunal's decision that it was fair to dismiss an employee who brought numerous grievances which he refused to progress or withdraw.  The grievances concerned his omission from meetings with subsequent grievances raised about how his grievances were handled;  he refused to formally progress any of the grievances or withdraw them, and failed to comply with the employer's instruction to attend a grievance hearing.  On the facts the EAT agreed that the employer was entitled to find that the grievances were vexatious and frivolous and his conduct constituted gross misconduct. There was no need to show that the conduct amounted to a repudiatory breach of contract, only that it was fair to treat it as amounting to sufficient reason to dismiss in all the circumstances.