Understanding and Implementing Effective Grievance Procedures in the Workplace

Workplace grievance procedures outline structured steps unions and employers follow to resolve disputes before arbitration. This guide explains informal discussions, written complaints, management escalation, mediation, and final arbitration decisions.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

Introduction

First step: Informal gathering

Step Two: Meeting with the supervisor and paperwork

Step Three: Management escalation

Step Four: Notification to senior company officials

Step Five: Arbitration referral

Introduction

There is often a set of procedures that an employer and the union that represents its workers must follow with the aim of resolving a workplace dispute. A grievance claim associated with a labor & employment conflict usually advances via the union’s and the employer’s hierarchies.

Neither party’s right to arbitration is waived by this procedure. In contrast, the theory posits that the degree of workplace disturbance decreases with the degree of resolution that may be achieved.

First step: Informal gathering

The majority of grievance procedures start with an informal stage. The employee meets with their immediate supervisor & the steward. They discuss the issue and try to find a quick solution. The official procedures are started if this informal dialogue fails to produce a resolution. This involves the submission of a written grievance.

Starting grievances

An employee files a grievance by notifying the steward of the grievance if they and their supervisor cannot settle the disagreement informally.

The steward’s job is to interview the worker and ascertain:

What happened, according to the employee, including the precise moment and location
Names of any witnesses who saw the alleged incident
Participants in the event were management representatives.
The breached provision (or provisions) of the contract
The proper solution
Any other pertinent details

Three steps in the grievance review process

Employees rely on formal procedures when they need to file a grievance at work. The matter moves through structured review stages defined by the contract once an employee formally decides to file a grievance at work.

In accordance with the hierarchy of command or degrees of review, the majority of arbitration agreements include several grievance procedure stages. Some parties with many plants & bargaining units utilize more complicated procedures to ensure uniformity in the implementation of national agreements across unit boundaries; three-step methods are typical.

After each processing step, the employer is typically required by contract to submit written responses within a predetermined number of days.

Step Two: Meeting with the supervisor and paperwork

This phase entails the steward and the employee’s supervisor meeting to address the grievance; the employee is typically present. Most agreements demand that the complaint be submitted in writing and verified by the complainant within a certain number of days following the incident if it cannot be addressed at this stage.

The steward is typically in charge of putting the grievance in writing. The chosen management representative receives the original document, while the steward keeps a copy. Additional copies are given to the employee and other management and union representatives.

Step Three: Management escalation

A meeting to talk about the grievance at the highest level of managerial authority is the next phase in the grievance process. Usually, this meeting is between the appointed management team and the union’s business representative or grievance committee participants.

Step Four: Notification to senior company officials

Conversations between senior corporate management and full-time union executives and/or international union representatives usually constitute the final stage before referral to arbitration.

1. Exclusions

Before using arbitration, contracts typically mandate that the parties follow all processing procedures. There are several circumstances in which one or more stages of processing can be skipped. Both parties must consent to it, or the contract must permit it.

The grievance is of a broad nature and can only be settled at the highest levels of union management; these are known as policy grievances.
The disagreement results directly from one party’s disregard for the grievance process.
Due to the serious or urgent nature of the issue, the parties forego the pre-arbitration procedures.
Grievance processes wouldn’t be useful.

2. Grievance arbitration

Certain contracts allow for grievance mediation as a step between arbitration and the end of the grievance procedure steps. Grievance mediation is a method of resolving disputes when the parties talk about their grievance using a mediator who serves as an unbiased third party. Although they are unable to force a resolution on the parties, the mediator can offer suggestions for how to end the conflict.

The parties may decide to utilize mediation for certain issues on an informal basis, or the contract may specify mediation as an additional step before arbitration or as a substitute. Arbitration is the final step after an employee chooses to file a grievance at work.

Step Five: Arbitration referral

The last stage of grievance processes is typically referred to an arbitrator for a ruling. The union, not the disgruntled employee, decides whether to submit the dispute to arbitration.

An impartial third-party chosen jointly by the involved parties, the arbitrator serves as a judge in grievance arbitration, interpreting the terms and intent of the agreement. The arbitrator hears arguments from the parties and makes a decision based on those arguments. The arbitrator’s ruling is usually final and enforceable. Workers must understand the full process before they file a grievance at work.

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Understanding and Implementing Effective Grievance Procedures in the Workplace

Introduction

First step: Informal gathering

Step Two: Meeting with the supervisor and paperwork

Step Three: Management escalation

Step Four: Notification to senior company officials

Step Five: Arbitration referral

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