We give our expert advise and comments on the case in which the EAT decided that an employee’s choice of companion for a grievance meeting need not be ‘reasonable'.
Employers should therefore be aware that the scope for arguing that an employee’s companion at a disciplinary or grievance meeting is not suitable is likely to be very narrow. A better argument for rejecting an employee’s choice of companion might be that the attendance of the particular companion would be prejudicial to a fair hearing. This might, for instance, be the case where the companion was a material witness to the incident under discussion.
