Analysis of Grievance Procedure in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases

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INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
THE INCIDENT OF GRIEVANCES......................................................................................................3
TYPE OF GRIEVANCE...................................................................................................................... 3
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MANAGER................................................................................4
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF HR ADVISOR.............................................................................5
STEPS IN GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE.................................................................................................6
a. The meeting with the griever and union representative.......................................................6
b. The investigation and gathering of information....................................................................7
c. Preparation of the grievance responses.................................................................................9
Letter of the response..............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 11
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
A grievance is referred as to as dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice experienced and faced out
by an employee due to misinterpretation and misapplication of written policies and procedures
of the company or collectively bargained agreement. The grievance procedure is framed and
implements by employers to address grievances (McDonald et al., 2015). It involves the
employee, union representatives and member of the management team of the employer at the
unionized workplace. This individual assignment is focused on understanding the grievance
handling management and develops the ability to provide advice to a manager for effective
handling a grievance.
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THE INCIDENT OF GRIEVANCES
A written grievance is received by a manager from an employee who was terminated for willful
conduct. Both the employee and the victim work at a retail store where they happen to meet
regularly. Both developed a friendly relation at the workplace (Butler& Chung-Yan, 2011).
However, one day when both the employee and victim were in the cafeteria in the pantry
room, the employee started asking sexual questions and also made inappropriate sexual
gestures to the victim. The housekeeping staff and one employee was present during the
incident occurred.
After this incident, the employee started making lewd remarks and comments on the victim.
The victim was terrified with the behaviours and actions of the employee which affected her
work performance. The incident occurred when the evening tea break was about to finish. The
victim had compliant regarding the behaviour and actions of the employee (Gill & Febbraro,
2013). After confirming from the housekeeping staff and the witness and seeing the serious
nature of behaviour, the employee was terminated.
TYPE OF GRIEVANCE
The type of workplace grievance received was sexual harassment faced by the victim who is
also an employee at the unionised workplace. Sexual harassment at the workplace is one of the
forms of discrimination that includes any invited conduct, comment, behaviour related to
gender, sex or sexual orientation. The victim was facing difficulties due to the actions and
behaviour of the employee. The manager after knowing the conduct of the employee warned
him many times to behave according to the code of conduct (McDonald, 2012). These warnings
were neglected by the employee, which forced the manager to take crucial actions by the
manager and the HR advisor.
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ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MANAGER
The role of the manager while handling grievance such as sexual harassment at the workplace is
to seek a solution to resolve the grievance in transparent as well as impartial manner (Sheehy,
2012). The responsibilities of the grievance manager are:
 To deal with grievance issues promptly in order to resolve the issues in an informal
manner.
 To arrange a formal meeting under the grievance procedure to be held without any
unreasonable delay (Sheehy, 2012).
 To inform the HR advisor when a formal grievance is received.
 To keep the written records of grievances that were dealt with earlier.
 To consider any reasonable adjustment when a hearing is attended by a disabled
employee or representative (Sheehy, 2012).
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ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF HR ADVISOR
The role of the HR advisor is to give their valuable guideline regarding the recruitment,
evaluation, management and retention of employees at the workplace.
 To research and prepare confidential labour relations reports and surveys related to
grievances, negotiations and arbitrations (Kaushik et al., 2014).
 To address the requests and potential issues related to the grievance of the employee.
 To support the HR manager with various competence investigations for grievance.
 To investigate the disciplinary actions for employees and facilitate grievance resolution
(Kaushik et al., 2014).
 To reach a conclusion and make appropriate recommendations to resolve the grievance.
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STEPS IN GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
a. The meeting with the griever and union representative
The purpose of the meeting was a grievance received from an employee to the manager
regarding the termination of the employees for its willful misconduct at the workplace. The
employee was terminated from the workplace due to its sexual actions and behaviour at the
workplace towards colleague (McDonald et al., 2011). A formal meeting was conducted by
informing the union representative, the griever and the HR advisor.
Here the employee will be given the chance to set out its grievance by providing evidence to
back up his case. The parties included in the grievance meeting are the employee, the
respondent, line manager, witnesses, appeal manager, HR advisor, a union representative and
note taker (McDonald et al., 2011). A decision is to be made in order to resolve the sexual
harassment issue and seek the necessary outcome.
Prior to the meeting, all the investigations will be conducted by the manager to get the details
of the grievance and the incident of sexual harassment. All the concerned parties will be
informed by the manager so as to make their own preparations. It is essential for the manager
to hold a meeting within five business days of receiving the complaint (McDonald et al., 2011).
Here the witness that is housekeeping and an employee who witnessed the incident is asked to
give detail related to the incident.
In this case, the manager will hold the meeting with the employer, the victim and the union
representative. In the meeting, the incident that occurred at the workplace will be discussed
with justification from both sides. After the meeting, the next steps to be taken by the manager
depends on the outcome of the meeting (Kaushik et al., 2014). It may require the manager to
explore the grievance further. The manager may interview colleagues, housekeeping staff and
the employee present during the occurrence of the incident.
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b. The investigation and gathering of information
In order to resolve the grievance, it is important to investigate and gather relevant information
regarding the issues and justified termination of the employee. At first, when the manager
received the grievance from the employee regarding the termination for willful misconduct.
The manager should first inform the HR advisor so as to be guided for the further process
(Holland & Cortina, 2016). An informal discussion should be done with the employee to resolve
the issue.
The manager should ask for a written grievance from the employee. This case involves the
incident of sexual harassment, therefore, it is essential to take considerable time to investigate
the company. There were housekeeping staff and one employee as the witness of the incident
so they were to be notified if and when needed (McKay, 2014). The manager should speak with
the HR advisor and also inform all the relevant parties such as the union representative, the
employee, the victim, and the witnesses.
Since the unsolicited actions that are asking sexual questions and also made inappropriate
sexual gestures were done by the employee. The manager had terminated the employee for its
willful misconduct. The manager should communicate the grievance received from the
employee to all the concerned parties (McKay, 2014). The manager must investigate the time
and day along with the location of the incident took place that is after the tea break in the
cafeteria of the pantry room. The incident violated the personal rights of the victim and also
policies, practices and code of conduct at the workplace. The cause of violation was due to
lewd questions asked and gesture made related to sex by the employee to another employee at
the workplace.
The investigation must be the time that is within 5 days of the receiving of the grievance.
Transparency and thoroughness are to be maintained by gathering all the relevant documents
and evidence (Holland & Cortina, 2016). The manager asked the questions to all the related
parties of the incident:
To the victim:
1. Give the details of the incident - what happen, when and when did it happen?
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2. Who may have seen the incident? How did you react?
To the accused (the employee):
1. Describe your version of the incident?
2. Was anyone present at the time of the incident?
To the witness:
1. Did you notice anything in the cafeteria that may have to disturb you or other
employees?
2. Did you observe anything unusual during the interaction of the victim or the employee?
3. Did you hear any conversation involving the employee?
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c. Preparation of the grievance responses
The responses prepared for the grievance the issue related to sexual harassment can be
resolved by suspending the employee at the workplace and also deploying or demoting him to
lower position at other location (Hart, 2012).
The employee may be terminated from its role with the support from the union representative
and statement given by the witnesses to resolve the grievance (Hart, 2012). This will result in
the welfare of the employees and the organization and also develop trust and faith between
the employees and manager.
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Letter of the response
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM
To: ABC
From: the Manager
Date: 2nd Apr 2019
21419, Pine Street, Detroit
Dear ABC,
We have conducted an investigation into an allegation that certain recent conduct of yours
towards the victim was inconsistent with our policy against workplace harassment. Since the
company is committed to investigating the allegations of willful and improper misconduct and
take relevant action on the basis of investigation and meetings.
After careful review of the facts and evidence presented during the grievance meeting, the
sexual question and gesture made by you in the presence of housekeeping staff and other
employee were inappropriate under the circumstances.
The company concludes that your conduct did amount to unlawful harassment on the basis of
sex. Therefore the company reaches to the conclusion to terminate you from your roles and
responsibilities.
If you have any clarifications or questions, you may contact me until the end date of your
employment.
We wish you the best of luck.
XYZ
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CONCLUSION
Thus the conclusion is that the role played by the manager and the HR advisor is crucial in
maintaining the harmonious environment at the workplace. Also, it is the responsibility of the
manager and the HR advisor to resolve any internal issue that may arise at the workplace.
Grievance at the workplace must be timely and thoroughly handled by the manager and HR
advisor through proper investigation and evidence related to the grievance.
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