An external agent, a non-employee, has raised a grievence against a colleague, a first line manager, claiming that she was unsympathetic and cold during a telephone conversation were the external agent had asked for her son to leave site immediately to attend a funeral (his grandfathers). My colleague had already agreed that the team member could leave at 12 noon, but he had arrived in the morning of the funeral asking to go earlier as he "wanted to go for drinks with some family members" who he hadn’t seen for a while. My colleague had stated that this could be difficult and asked at what time he needed to leave. He replied 10 o’clock. My colleague explained that this would be difficult due to customer expectations. The team member then replied that it was ok and he did not really need to go. Around an hour later, the team member then said he needed to go at 10 am as he was now a pall bearer and the details of the funeral had changed. Again it was explained that this would be difficult but the question would be raised with the department head. 10 mins after my colleague received the call from the chaps mother. To cut a long story short, my colleague has attended a greivance investigation and is facing allegations of bringing the company in to ill-repute, due to being rude, cold and unsympathetic to the mother of an employee. The mother has stated in her grievence letter, that the employee would have raised the grievance himself, but feared reprisals and discrimination together with bullying. My colleague is distraught by these allegations as she suffers from a heart condition and a mental disability and fears that the company is trying to get rid of her. When she asked what the potential outcome could be she was told it could lead to a disciplinary hearing under the allegation of gross misconduct. She is currently of work due to illness as the impact of this has aggravated  her conditions. My colleague is a good natured person and treats everyone with respect. This has come out of the blue for her. Is there anything she can do? It should be pointed out that the team member was allowed to leave at 11am and that this was initially deemed as ok with the team members mother.