# Whirl the World - Grievances

The company recognizes that from time to time employees may wish to seek redress for grievances relating to their employment.

In this respect, the company’s policy is to encourage free communication between employees and their managers to ensure that questions and problems arising during the course of employment can be aired and, where possible, resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of all concerned.

To this end, the following procedure should be adopted where an employee has a grievance arising from his or her employment, except where the matter constitutes an appeal against a disciplinary decision which should be taken up in accordance with the company’s separate disciplinary appeals procedure.

The grievance procedure will be carried out in confidence, unless otherwise agreed with the parties involved, and will not prejudice the aggrieved employee’s current employment or future career prospects. Some grievances may be of a sensitive or controversial nature and therefore a balance must be drawn between the need to preserve this confidentiality and the need for informed discussion of the issues raised.

It is anticipated that most grievances will be resolved through informal discussion and the normal management channels without the need to invoke the formal grievance procedure.

## Raising a grievance informally

Any employee who has a grievance relating to his or her employment may raise the matter informally with his or her manager during the course of normal work. This is not part of the grievance procedure. Only if the matter is not resolved between them should the formal grievance procedure need to be used.

## The formal grievance procedure

Stage | Policy / Procedure
Stage 1 Meeting | Employees should put their grievances in writing to their immediate manager. However, employees should put their grievances in writing to Human Resources if they are raising a grievance against their immediate manager. The employee may at this meeting (or a stage 2 or 3 meeting), if he or she wishes, request to be accompanied by another employee/work colleague from the company or a union official or representative. Once an employee has fully set out his or her grievance in writing and sent the statement or a copy of it to the employer, the employer must invite the employee to attend a meeting to discuss the grievance. All grievance meetings and appeal meetings should be held without unreasonable delay while allowing the parties to have reasonable time to prepare for those meetings. The timing and location of the grievance meeting must be reasonable. The manager is required to: Record full details of the matter or accept signed written details of the matter Provide an answer in writing, normally within five working days after the meeting, to the employee with a copy to the representative, if any Inform the employee in writing of his or her right to appeal and to be accompanied at the Stage 2 Meeting. If the employee wishes to appeal, he or she must appeal in writing, normally within five working days after he or she has received the manager’s written answer. The employee’s appeal must set out the grounds of his or her appeal.
Stage 2 Meeting | The Stage 2 management representative will arrange to meet the employee concerned and/or, at the latter’s wish, his or her representative. At this meeting the employee may be accompanied as at Stage 1. The employee’s manager may, if practicable, be present at the request of either party. Following the meeting, the management representative is required to despatch an answer, in writing, normally within five working days after the meeting to the employee and, if applicable, to the representative. The written answer must also inform the employee of his or her right to appeal and to be accompanied at the Stage 3 meeting. If the employee wishes to appeal, he or she must appeal in writing, normally within five working days after he or she has received the management representative’s written answer. The employee’s appeal must set out the grounds of his or her appeal. Where possible, the employee’s appeal at the Stage 2 meeting must be heard by a manager (eg a more senior manager) who has not previously been involved in the case.
Stage 3 Meeting | The Stage 3 management representative will arrange to meet the employee concerned. At this meeting the employee may be accompanied as at Stage 1. The management representative at Stages 1 and 2 may, if practicable, be present at the request of either party. A written answer to the grievance will be despatched to the employee normally within five working days after the meeting and, if applicable, to the representative. Where possible, the employee’s appeal at the Stage 3 meeting must be heard by a manager who has not previously been involved in the case - for example, a more senior manager. The decision of the Stage 3 management representative will be final.
Time limits | If the employee’s chosen companion (fellow worker or union official or representative) is not available on the day of the meeting the employee may reasonably request that the meeting be held on another day within five working days of the selected date. A working day is a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a bank holiday. In the absence, for any reason, of the appropriate management representative, the procedure authorizes any other executive of the company to take the necessary action on his or her behalf. At the request of the employee, however, consideration may be deferred until the return of the appropriate management representative. Although there are time limits within which answers to grievances are to be given, it is important that grievances are dealt with as quickly as possible.