Something has quietly changed in workplaces over the last 12 months.
Employees are increasingly turning to AI tools — ChatGPT, Copilot, and similar — to help them draft formal grievances, disciplinary responses, and written complaints. What used to arrive as a few messy and repetitive handwritten lines is now arriving as a 30 page polished, legally-referenced document that reads like it was drafted by an employment solicitor.
Unless your employee has suddenly gained employment law skills, then you know they didn’t draft it. But you also know, it is still a grievance and you cannot ignore it.
If you’re a small business owner, this might feel alarming. It doesn’t need to.
What’s actually happening
AI tools make it easy for anyone to produce a well-structured, confident-sounding document in minutes. Employees are using them to articulate concerns they might previously have struggled to put into words — and sometimes to raise issues that feel more significant in writing than they do in reality.
The result: more formal grievances, more detailed submissions, and more references to employment law — even when those references aren’t always accurate.
What it means for your business
A longer, more polished grievance letter does not automatically mean a stronger grievance. Your legal obligations don’t change because the wording is more sophisticated.
What matters is:
- Whether the complaint raises a genuine workplace issue
- Whether your grievance process is followed correctly
- Whether you respond fairly, promptly, and with an open mind
A well-drafted AI letter can sometimes obscure a relatively minor issue beneath layers of formal language. Your job is to look past the presentation and focus on the substance.
Is there a positive?
There is actually a positive. An AI assisted letter does genuinely help employees. For example for those with dyslexia, English as a second language, or an employee too stressed to organise their thoughts on paper. It helps them to bring up genuine problems that would once have festered in silence.
What you should do
- Follow your process — every time.
A robust grievance procedure protects you regardless of how the submission was drafted. Acknowledge receipt promptly, invite the employee to a hearing, investigate properly, and communicate the outcome clearly.
- Don’t be intimidated by legal language.
AI tools sometimes include references to case law or legislation that don’t actually apply to the situation – or don’t even exist! If something looks serious, take advice — but don’t assume a legal-sounding letter means you’re automatically in the wrong.
- Separate the noise from the facts.
Don’t be deterred by the volume, strip back the language and focus on the substance: what has happened, and why is the employee unhappy? Scope out the actual grievances and put them under individual headings. This will allow you to focus with the employee on the core allegations.
- Look for the real issue.
Behind many formal grievances is a problem that could have been resolved earlier — a management conversation that didn’t happen, a concern that wasn’t taken seriously, a breakdown in a working relationship. Address the substance.
- Keep records.
Document every step of your process. If a grievance ever escalates to an Employment Tribunal, your paperwork is your evidence.
- Review your grievance procedure.
If you don’t have one, or yours is out of date, now is the time to fix it. A clear, legally compliant process is your first line of defence.
The bigger picture
AI hasn’t changed employment law. It has made it easier for employees to present formal challenges — which means small business owners need to make sure their processes are solid enough to handle them.
Employers, themselves, might use an AI tool to help them in dealing with the grievance and breaking it down. Be clear in your policies if you use AI as a tool.
If you’re not confident your grievance procedure would stand up to scrutiny, or if you’ve recently received a formal complaint that’s left you unsure how to respond, we can help.
At Hill HR, we are seeing a lot more employee complaints drafted by an AI bot. We can review your AI-drafted grievance with you, separate the real issues from the noise, manage the investigation and meeting, and make sure your response is both fair and legally sound. We also help you future proof your policies for this new wave of employee complaints.
📩 Contact us and we will help you handle it properly.
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