Retraction of grievance form

Our form enables you to obtain written evidence of the retraction of an employee’s grievance and it asks them to state their reasons for withdrawal, as well as making clear to them that you still reserve the right to continue with your investigation where you believe this to be necessary.

A U-turn

There are a variety of reasons why an employee might change their mind about having raised a formal grievance, such as they feel they’ve now sorted out the issue through informal means, they raised it somewhat “in the heat of the moment” and they’ve since had time to reflect on their actions, or they know it was spurious or exaggerated and the progress of the grievance investigation has made them realise just how seriously you’re treating the matter. If an employee does wish to withdraw a formal grievance, you can use our Retraction of Grievance Form so that you have appropriate written evidence of their retraction. It makes it clear that any withdrawal is their own choice. However, it goes on to outline that you may still pursue the matter where you deem this to be necessary and, in this event, the employee may still be required to assist with your investigation. Just because an employee has withdrawn a grievance doesn’t mean there was no substance to it, so you will need to consider the facts on a case-by-case basis and decide if it’s a matter you need to continue to investigate. Never put pressure on an employee to withdraw a formal grievance - the decision to do this has to come from them. If you think it’s malicious or fabricated, you just need to subtly make clear that making false allegations is itself a disciplinary offence. Our Grievance Procedure confirms this in its final paragraph so give them a copy as part of the process.

Reasons

Finally, our form asks the employee to state the reasons for their retraction. Obviously, they might not put the real reasons here, or they might be very brief and vague, but it could well highlight if the employee may have withdrawn it under duress or pressure from other staff.