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TITLE: Grievance Policy and ProceduresPolicy Number / 0025
Effective Date / January 2006
Revision Date / May 2010
APPROVED / January 2006
1. SCOPE OF THE POLICY
A situation may arise where an employee feels he/she has not been fairly treated at work. Regardless of the reason the Institution has a procedure whereby the aggrieved employee is given the opportunity to address the grievance formally.
2. PURPOSE OF THE POLICY
The purpose of a grievance policy is to provide a process whereby the grievance of individual or small groups can be resolved, as close as possible to its origin and as soon as possible so that it does not develop into a major dispute.
3. DEFINITION
Any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with an employee’s work or conditions of employment, which merits the formal attention of management at any level, but excludes both collective wage grievances and appeals against disciplinary action.
4. TYPES OF GRIEVANCES INCLUDE
4.1. Rumors affecting employees
4.2. Incompatibility of employees
4.3. Managerial attitudes, values, prejudices
4.4. Unsatisfactory working conditions
4.5. Failure to acknowledge employee proposals
4.6. Unfair implementation of company procedures
4.7. Sexual harassment
5. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
5.1. Employees may lodge grievances without any fear of victimization or prejudice;
5.2. All grievances are to be handled with the utmost discretion and with the dignity and privacy of employees in mind;
5.3. Grievances shall be settled as speedily and effectively as possible and at the lowest possible level;
5.4. The objective of this procedure is to deal with individual grievances and grievances of small groups of employees;
5.5. The HR officer or his/her delegate acts as advisor for both parties in a grievance investigation;
5.6. The procedure does not replace normal communication between employees and their supervisor, and should therefore be utilized in cases where informal communication has been exhausted or is clearly inappropriate;
5.7. Employees still have the right to be assisted by a co-worker of their choice at any stage of the procedure;
5.8. The grievance must be raised within five working days of the occurrence that gave rise to it, failing which, unless special circumstances exist, the employee will have no recourse to the grievance procedure.
6. PROCEDURES TO BE FOLLOWED
6.1. The employee verbally communicates the grievance to his immediate supervisor. He /she indicate that this is a formal grievance;
6.2. The supervisor will:
6.2.1. listen to the employee’s problem;
6.2.2. encourage the employee to speak openly about his/her grievance;
6.2.3. give the employee the assurance that he/she will not be victimized
6.2.4. ask relevant questions in order to obtain all the facts relating to the grievance;
6.2.5. respect the need for confidentiality;
6.2.6. the supervisor should endeavor to resolve the problem within three working days after the grievance has been lodged.
6.3. If the employee is not satisfied with the result:
6.3.1. He/she may obtain a grievance form from the HR Department the grievance form is completed in duplicate;
6.3.2. The grievance form is handed in by the employee to the immediate supervisor, within three working days;
6.3.3. On receipt of the grievance form, the immediate supervisor, after consultation with the employee and his/her employee representative, must communicate the out come to the employee in writing within three days for the purpose of resolving the grievance;
6.3.4. A copy of the grievance form must be sent to the HR Department for record purposes;
6.3.5. If the parties are not satisfied with the outcome the next step will follow;
6.4. The grievance form is handed to the next level of Management concerned who, within three days of receiving the form, arranges a grievance investigation, which will involve the following people:
6.4.1. The employee;
6.4.2. Employee representative;
6.4.3. Witnesses, if any;
6.4.4. Supervisor;
6.4.5. Manager concerned
6.4.6. Human Resource Manager or his/her delegate
6.5. During the investigation the Manager must take an effort to resolve the grievance within three working days of grievance investigation have been completed.
6.6. If the employee is not satisfied with the findings. The parties will proceed to the following step:
6.6.1. The employee concerned may refer his/her grievance to the principal;
6.6.2. The grievance form and all reports on the grievance must be handed over to the principal;
6.6.3. The principal will, if necessary, consult with all the parties concerned, and having considered the matter, inform the employee in writing of his decision within seven working days of receiving the grievance.
6.6.4. The employee, can. If not satisfied make use of any statutory dispute settling mechanisms as defined in the Labour Relations Act, unless otherwise agreed upon by the employee and employer.