Your employee has submitted a grievance. It is 20 pages long. It cites 14 pieces of legislation, refers to six cases you cannot find anywhere, alleges 32 separate breaches and requests 17 different remedies. You suspect it was written using AI.
What should you do?
AI can produce lengthy documents containing inaccurate legal analysis, repetition and sometimes fictional legal references. However, using AI does not fundamentally change how an employer should deal with a grievance.
The substance matters, not the drafting
An employee does not need to identify the legal basis of their complaint for an employer to take it seriously. If they incorrectly cite a provision of the Equality Act 2010, for example, the underlying complaint should not simply be dismissed.
The employer should establish what happened and whether the facts give rise to any legal issue. Similarly, if an employee cites a case which does not exist, there is little value in rebutting it if the underlying factual allegation can be understood and investigated.
A grievance is not a pleading before the Employment Tribunal. The employer should identify the substance of the complaint and decide how it should be investigated.
Does every allegation need to be investigated?
Not necessarily. An AI-generated grievance can make one incident appear to be numerous separate allegations. An employee might describe the same incident as discrimination, harassment, victimisation, breach of contract and constructive dismissal. That does not necessarily require five separate investigations.
The employer should establish the underlying facts and then consider which legal issues arise. The Acas Code expects employers to carry out any necessary investigation to establish the facts; it does not require every legal proposition to be treated as a separate factual allegation.
When should clarification be requested?
If a grievance is so broad or unclear that the employer cannot reasonably determine what is being alleged, ask the employee for clarification. However, this should not become a procedural obstacle. The employee may simply have used AI to organise a genuine complaint.
How quickly must an employer respond?
There is no general statutory requirement for every grievance to be concluded within a particular number of days. Employers should follow their own grievance procedure and deal with grievances without unreasonable delay. Acas recommends that the grievance meeting should, where possible, be held within five working days.
More complicated grievances may take longer, but the employee should be kept informed.
What about AI-generated evidence?
AI may misinterpret an email or turn a tentative statement into an apparently definitive allegation. Employers should check important allegations against the underlying evidence.
If an employee has copied confidential company information, personal data or client material into an AI system, that may raise separate confidentiality, data protection or information security concerns.
Do not forget the Tribunal time limit
The internal grievance process does not, by itself, stop the time limit for bringing an Employment Tribunal claim from running. Since 1 October 2026, the ordinary limitation period for most Tribunal claims has increased from three months less one day to six months less one day. Employers should not assume that a lengthy grievance gives them six months to deal with it.
Practical points for employers
Employers should:
- identify the substance of the complaint;
- distinguish factual allegations from legal conclusions;
- investigate the facts reasonably necessary to reach a fair decision;
- seek clarification where necessary; and
- deal with the grievance without unreasonable delay.
Most importantly, do not confuse a badly drafted grievance with an invalid grievance. The task remains the same: identify the substance, establish the facts and reach a fair and reasonable decision.
How 3CS can help
For more advice and assistance, our Employment Team will be happy to help. Please get in touch.
