If an employee raises a grievance during a disciplinary process should we run the matters concurrently or must we suspend the disciplinary procedure to investigate the grievance?

Employees often submit grievances during disciplinary procedures, either regarding the procedure itself or the circumstances leading up to the initiation of that procedure. The Labour Relations Agency (the “LRA”) Code of Practice guide does not specifically refer to this issue, but the non-statutory LRA Guide, ‘Discipline and Grievances at Work’ notes that employers may find it convenient to deal with both issues concurrently if the issues are related.

However, in other situations, it can be more appropriate for the employer to suspend the disciplinary procedure for a short period in order to fully investigate the grievance, for example, if the grievance is serious and unrelated to the