My employee submitted a 15-page grievance. ChatGPT wrote it.

AI-generated grievances are landing on employers’ desks every week, longer, more aggressive, and sometimes citing cases that don’t even exist. Here’s what you need to know, and what to do when one arrives.

Cast your mind back to the last grievance you received. Chances are it was a page, maybe two. Written in the employee’s own words. Expressing a concern or complaint in a fairly straightforward way.

Now imagine opening an email to find a 15-page document. Formal headings. Legal language. References to case law. A list of six separate discrimination claims bolted onto what started as a straightforward complaint about a rota change.

This is what employment specialists [or practitioners] across the UK are increasingly seeing, and it’s coming to a business like yours sooner than you might think.

What’s actually happening

Since ChatGPT became widely available, a growing number of employees have started using it to draft grievances and tribunal submissions. The appeal is obvious, it’s free, it’s fast, and it produces writing that sounds confident and authoritative.

The reality, as employment specialists [or practitioners] are discovering, is more complicated. AI tools like ChatGPT don’t know your specific contracts, your workplace policies, or the precise facts of your situation. They pull from a vast and unfiltered range of sources, including American employment law, which operates on entirely different principles to the UK system.

The result? Grievances that cite non-existent cases. Submissions that reference the US National Labor Relations Act in a British employment dispute. Claims that throw in every possible ground of discrimination, not because the employee has grounds for all of them, but because the AI suggested it.

The Cheese Company case (2024):  A claimant used ChatGPT to draft their employment tribunal claim. The AI fabricated legal principles and produced work of such poor quality that it undermined the claimant’s own position, leaving them, as the Law Gazette put it, ‘cheesed off’. What might have been a valid claim was derailed by AI-generated content.

The problem for employers

Here’s the thing that catches businesses out: you cannot simply dismiss a grievance because you suspect it was written by AI. Even if the document is full of inaccuracies, irrelevant legal references, and inflated claims, your duty to investigate it remains exactly the same.

All UK employers must have a Grievance Policy and Procedure, as a mimum based onh ACAS guidelines. Refusing to engage, or visibly dismissing a submission as ‘just AI’, can turn a weak grievance into a stronger one, by giving the employee grounds for a procedural claim on top of whatever they originally raised.

And the volume problem is real. AI-generated grievances tend to be significantly longer than those written by employees themselves. Every claim has to be taken seriously, investigated properly, and responded to in writing. That takes time, resource, and legal expertise, regardless of whether the underlying complaint has any merit.

How to spot an AI-generated grievance

You may not always be sure. But there are tell-tale signs that employment lawyers and HR professionals are learning to recognise:

• Unusually formal or polished writing that doesn’t match the employee’s normal communication style
• References to US legal concepts, ‘at-will employment’, ‘the National Labor Relations Act’, that have no application in UK law
• Citations to cases that, on inspection, don’t exist or are misquoted
• A very long, structured document covering multiple grounds of claim from a straightforward complaint
• Repeated use of em dashes (—) and structured subheadings throughout
• Language that escalates minor issues into serious legal violations

Spotting these signs is useful context, but it doesn’t change what you have to do. Every grievance, however it was produced, still needs to be handled fairly and consistently.

What should you actually do?

Acknowledge it promptly

However long or complex the grievance, acknowledge receipt in writing and confirm the process you’ll follow your grievance procedure, and attach a copy. This protects you from a procedural claim at the outset.

Don’t be distracted by the noise

AI-generated grievances often bury the real complaint under layers of additional claims. Hold a grievance meeting so that you can identify the core issue with the employee, what is this employee actually saying happened? and investigate that properly. You can address the other claims in your written response.

Get HR support before you respond

A well-drafted grievance response is one of the most important documents you can produce. It sets out your position and becomes part of the paper trail if the matter escalates. Don’t draft it alone, and don’t use AI to do it. Get proper advice.

Review your grievance policy

Consider whether your grievance policy is clear on how submissions should be made and what information is required. You may also want to include a declaration that the submission represents the employee’s own account, not a generated document. This doesn’t prevent AI use, but it creates a clear expectation.

The bottom line

AI hasn’t changed the law. What it has changed is the confidence with which some employees raise claims, and the complexity of the documents that arrive on your desk as a result.

The businesses that handle this well are the ones with clear processes, trained managers, and HR support they can call on the moment something lands. The ones that struggle are the ones responding on the hoof, or worse, not responding at all.

If a grievance has just landed on your desk, AI-generated or otherwise, we’re here to help you handle it properly.

Need support with a grievance?

We help businesses across the South West manage grievances properly, from the moment they arrive to the final written outcome. Get in touch for a straightforward conversation.

If any of this sounds familiar, let’s talk, speak to our team today or book a free HR consultation here.

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This article is intended as general guidance and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different, if you need advice specific to your circumstances, please get in touch.