Informal Grievance was a Valid Statutory Grievance

In Procek v Oakford Farms Limited (Oakford) EAT/0049/08, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that a grievance letter expressly stating that a complaint was informal and that it was not intended to invoke the statutory grievance procedures was nonetheless a valid grievance for the purposes of step one of those procedures.

Mr Procek lodged a grievance with Oakford in January 2007 alleging race discrimination. The grievance expressly stated that it was informal and if Oakford failed to address it, Mr Procek would lodge a formal grievance under the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004. This grievance was never lodged. In June 2007, Mr Procek brought a claim in the Employment Tribunal. The Employment Tribunal held that the informal grievance was not a statutory grievance and that it therefore had no jurisdiction to hear the claim. Mr Procek appealed.

The EAT held that the letter constituted a valid grievance under the Employment Act 2002 as it satisfied the requirements for a step one grievance letter, namely that the grievance should be set out in writing and sent to the employer. As this requirement had been satisfied, the EAT allowed the appeal and ordered that Mr Procek's claim should be heard. Due to the circumstances of the case, the EAT exercised its discretion to conclude that it would not be "just and equitable" to apply an uplift in compensation and as such, Oakford was not faced with a statutory uplift despite having originally ignored the grievance.