Purpose

DEFINITIONA Grievance is a sense of dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice which an employee in thework situation has, which originates from the working relationship between the employee andthe employer and between employees.

Procedure

Step 1: Immediate Team leader / Manager

• An employee who has a grievance related to his/her work must convey this verbally to his/her Team Leader / Manager. Should the grievance be against the Team Leader / Manager, it should be conveyed to the next level of Management. Said manager should inform the other party to the grievance that a grievance has been submitted against him/her.
• To the best of his/her ability, the team leader / manager should:

• Listen in private to the employee
• Encourage the employee to discuss the grievance openly and freely.
• Undertake to investigate the complaint and to furnish the employee with his/her opinions andsuggestions.
• Acquire all the material facts relative to the grievance (distinguish between facts andopinions.)

• The team leader / manager should attempt to solve the grievance as soon as possible within, at most,three working days.
• Should the decision of the team leader / manager not be acceptable to the employee, Step 2 of the procedure will come into operation. The team leader / manager must advise the employee with regard to the progression of steps of the procedures and his/her right to be represented.

Step 2: Representative

• The employee must discuss his/her grievance with his/her representative
• The employee, assisted by his/her representative, must discuss the grievance with his/her team leader / manager who must endeavor to resolve the grievance within three working days.
• The team leader / manager must discuss his/her findings and recommendations with the employee and record his/her findings and recommendations.
• Should the decision of the team leader / manager not be acceptable to the employee Step 3 will come into operation.

Step 3: Grievance Form

• Should the employee prefer to proceed with the grievance, he/she should complete a Grievance Form with the assistance of his/her representative.
• The Grievance Form should be completed in triplicate. The first two copies are to be delivered to the team leader / manager and his/her immediate director / general manager, whilst the employee should retain the third copy.
• Should the employee prefer it, he/she should proceed with step 4.

Step 4: Investigation

• An investigation must now be arranged within three working days by the director / generalmanager of the team leader / manager.
• Present at the meeting would be the employee and his/her representative, the team leader / manager, the team leader’s / manager’s director / general manager and, if available, the Human Resources Manager, or Human Resources Officer.
• The parties should endeavor to solve the problem and reach an agreement. The agreement is recorded on the Grievance Form.
• If the grievance is not satisfactorily resolved, the grievance procedure ends and the dispute procedure commences.
• Any party can declare a dispute in terms of the dispute settlement procedure