The Grievance Procedure is a process that seeks to deal with the complaints of individual staff members. Any member of staff can take a grievance under the Procedure and it is not necessary to be a member of a trade union. The procedures for dealing with grievances provide for:
- Informal resolution between the complainant and the person against whom the complaint is being made
- where the issue has not been resolved informally the individual can make a written complaint to the officer concerned
- where a complainant is not satisfied with the response, the matter can be referred to the Personnel Office/HR Manager
- the Personnel Officer/HR Manager shall arrange for a meeting of the parties and shall make a decision on the matter
Where a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the process, he/she may request that the matter is referred to the Mediation Officer. The Mediation Officer is an external and independent adjudicator under the Grievance Procedure.
Any complaints relating to an immediate and direct loss of earnings as a consequence of the action complained of will be granted access to the Mediation Officer. However, it has been agreed that the following complaints shall not be referred to the Mediation Officer:
- complaints relating to disciplinary action
- selection for promotion
- selection for assignment to a post carrying an allowance or a post abroad
- exclusion from competitions or from consideration for promotion on grounds of health or sick leave record.
Circular 11/2001 sets out the Grievance procedure and can be found here: http://circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/finance/2001/11.pdf.
