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