Grievances
A grievance points the other way: the employee's complaint to the organisation — working conditions, pay, workload, treatment by management, harassment, discrimination, safety, interpersonal conflict.
Grievances ride the same case machinery as discipline (same file, same audit trail, same confidentiality), with the punitive half removed: no offence, no occurrence counting, no sanction path.
Raising a grievance
Employee (normal path): portal → Discipline → Raise a Grievance — category, what happened, submit. The complainant is always the logged-in employee; there is nothing to fill in on someone's behalf and no way to impersonate.
HR (on behalf): Cases → Report Incident → type: Grievance — for grievances received on paper or in person. Pick the complainant, optionally a named concerning employee, category, summary.
Either way a case is minted with a reference and lands in HR's case list marked Grievance.
Handling it
- Take Under Review. The grievance skips triage — there is no offence to classify.
- Investigate if warranted (Process tab): appoint an investigator, gather statements — same machinery as discipline.
- Move to Decision and record the resolution.
- Close with the closure note. The complainant follows progress and sees the outcome on their portal.
What carries over from discipline, and what doesn't
| Carries over | Does not apply |
|---|---|
| Case reference, workspace, evidence, audit trail | Offence catalogue, triage, occurrence counting |
| Confidentiality defaults and restricted visibility | Queries and response deadlines |
| Investigation and witness statements | Sanctions, ladders, payroll effects |
| Closure discipline (reasons, record kept forever) | Appeals (nothing was imposed) |
A harassment complaint is a grievance first
When an employee reports harassment, it enters as their grievance. If investigation substantiates it, HR opens a disciplinary case against the harasser (offence HAR-01, restricted visibility) — two files, each with its own procedure and its own record.