GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
WHAT IS A GRIEVANCE?
A grievance is any type of problem, concern or complaint related to work or the work
environment. A grievance may be about any act, omission, situation or decision that you
think is unfair, discriminatory or unjustified.
Our Equal Employment Opportunity and our Harassment and Discriminatory policy
outline the types of behaviour that are and are not acceptable within our workplace.
Our Grievance Procedure is:
COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL - Only the people directly involved in making or
investigating a complaint will have access to information about the complaint.
IMPARTIAL - Both sides will have a chance to tell their side of the story. No
assumptions will be made and no action will be taken until all relevant information
has been collected and considered.
FREE OF REPERCUSSIONS - No action will be taken against anyone for making a
complaint or helping someone to make a complaint. Management will take all
necessary steps to ensure that no victimisation occurs against anyone who makes a
complaint.
TIMELY - All complaints will be dealt with as quickly as possible. We aim to resolve
all complaints within one week if at all possible.
The following procedure sets out the way in which we will handle a complaint. Please
use it if you need to. Do not let people get away with harassment and unfair behaviour.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A GRIEVANCE
If you can, try to sort it out directly with the person involved.
Sometimes, people do not mean to do things that hurt or offend others. This does not
mean that it is OK. However, it does mean that if you can, you should tell the person
who is acting in a hurtful or unsuitable way that his or her behaviour is not acceptable
and/or offensive so that they have the chance to stop or to change what they’re doing.
If this does not work, or you do not feel that you can sort it out directly yourself,
go to your supervisor or Department Head.
Your supervisor is in charge of your immediate work environment and can help you sort
out problems with your department. Unless it is particularly difficult for you to discuss
your concerns with your Supervisor or Department Head, you should see them first to let
them know of your problem and to give them the opportunity to resolve the issue.
There are some situations where you may not want to take your complaint to your
supervisor (for example if the complaint is of a sexual nature or your supervisor is the
other sex, or the complaint is about or directly involves the supervisor. If that is the
case, take your complaint to the next level of management, if appropriate (i.e. the overall
Department Head).
All complaints that you take to your Supervisor or Department Head will be treated
privately. Nothing will be done without talking to you first and getting your agreement.
GO TO THE HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR/MANAGER
If you do not feel comfortable talking to your manager, or are not satisfied with the
manner in which your concerns were addressed, your Human Resource
Director/Manager is trained to help you.
He or she will take the following steps:
explain the grievance handling procedure including:
1. what may happen if there is enough evidence to support your complaint,
2. or what will happen if there is not enough evidence to support your complaint,
3. where you can go if you are not happy with the way that the company is dealing
with the complaint,
4. other places to go for more information
take a written record of the complaint
talk to the other person/people involved separately and impartially to hear their side
for the story.
tell you what the other person/people said and discuss what should be done to sort
out the complaint
make sure that whatever you have agreed/decided upon actually happens.
follow up, including periodical assessments of the effectiveness of the agreed
strategies.
SOME POSSIBLE OUTCOMES:
In a sexual harassment and discrimination case, there are several considerations -
If the complaint is substantiated (it happened)
a written apology
an official warning
counselling
demotion
dismissal
If the complaint is not substantiated (there is not enough proof)
training for all staff on anti-discrimination law
keeping a closer watch on the behaviour of employees
If the complaint is frivolous (it did not happen) counseling for the complainant
a written apology
an official warning
demotion
dismissal
In other cases, depending on the particular circumstances, the outcomes may include
pay adjustments, reversals of disciplinary action or transfer of one of the parties.
Ensure that the disciplinary action is in compliance with local regulations.
APPEALS
You should only ask the company to take a second look at a decision if they have not
followed the procedure set out here or you think they didn’t do something properly.
If you think that the grievance procedure was not followed properly, you can appeal to
the General Manager. He or she will look at the way that the complaint was handled. If
they think it was handled properly, they will not take any further action. If they think it
was not handled properly, they will organise for the complaint to be looked at again.
The review will be carried out by someone other than the person who first handled the
complaint.
