Grievance Procedure General

 

This procedure provides an open and fair way for members to make known their problems and enables grievances to be resolved quickly before they fester and become major problems.

The procedure recognises that most routine complaints and grievances are resolved informally in discussions within the group. This will be dealt with sympathetically and promptly.

 

Stage 1

If you have any grievance this should be discussed with a Committee member. This meeting is not minuted, but a record of the date, time and the reason for the grievance should be recorded. This record should be signed by both parties at the end of the meeting as a true and accurate record of the meeting. The hope is that the majority of concerns will be resolved at this stage.

 

Stage 2

If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should put your grievance in writing to the Secretary of the E.D.C.F.R. You and the party which the grievance is against will be entitled to have a separate meeting with the Secretary and the Committee member from Stage 1 who must give their decision within 14 working days of the grievance being received.

You and the party which the grievance is against can be accompanied at the meeting by a nominated person of your choice.

 

Stage 3

If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should put your grievance, in writing to the Committee of the E.D.C.F.R. You will be entitled to have a meeting with the Committee who will give their decision within 14 working days of receiving the grievance.

You can be accompanied at the meeting by a nominated person of your choice.

 

The Committees decision is final and constitutes the final stage of the grievance procedure.

 

The time period at each stage may be varied by mutual consent.

 

Records

Records should be kept in a sealed envelope, (this will be sealed by the Committee member from each Stage) detailing the nature of the grievance raised, the group’s response, any action taken and the reason for it. These records should be kept confidential and retained in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, which requires the release of certain data to individuals on their request.

Copies of any meeting records should be given to the individual concerned although in certain circumstances some information may be withheld, for example to protect a witness.

These records will be kept for 5 years. After that date the records will be given back to the individuals concerned.