Grievance Procedure and Discipline Management

Grievance Procedure and Discipline ManagementModule -4So what is your idea of a grievance? The term grievance is used to designate claims by workers of a trade union concerning their individual or collective rights under an applicable collective agreement, individual contract of employment, law, regulations, work rules, custom or usage.What is Grievance ?Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction that affects organizational performance. It arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is going to happen which is unfair, unjust or inequitable. Thus, a grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavorable to him has happened or is going to happen. can be any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not, whether valid or not, and arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes, or even feels as unfair, unjust, or inequitable. A grievance.. ILO- A grievance as a complaint of one more workers with respect to wages and allowances, conditions of work and interpretation of service, condition covering such areas as overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job assignment and termination of service. Grievance vs DisciplineGRIEVANCEProvides the employer with a process for resolving a complaint they are unable to resolve through regular communications with their superior/manager

DISCIPLINEGives employer a process for handling an employee who is not meeting the expected standards of performance or behaviour.7Features of GrievancesDiscontent or Dissatisfaction with any aspect of the organization. Dissatisfaction must arise out of employment Dissatisfaction must arise out of employment& not due to personal reasons The discontentment can arise out of real or imaginary reasons. The discontent may be voiced or unvoiced but it must expression in some form.Broadly speaking a grievance is noticeable & traceable to real or perceived non-fulfillment of traceable to real or perceived non-fulfillment of ones expectations.

Forms/ Types of Grievance Factual ImageryDisguise Factual: A factual grievance arises when legitimate needs of employees remain unfulfilled, e.g., wage hike has been agreed but not implemented citing various reasons.Imaginary: When an employees dissatisfaction is not because of any valid reason but because of a wrong perception, wrong attitude or wrong information he has. Such a situation may create an imaginary grievance. Though management is not at fault in such instances, still it has to clear the fog immediately.

Disguised: An employee may have dissatisfaction for reasons that are unknown to himself. If he/she is under pressure from family, friends, relatives, neighbors, he/she may reach the work spot with a heavy heart. If a new recruit gets a new table and cupboard this may become an eyesore to other employees who have not been treated likewise previously.

Causes of Grievances (1) Grievances resulting from working conditions Improper matching of the worker with the job. Changes in schedules or procedures. Non-availability of proper tools, machines and equipment for doing the job. Unreasonably high production standards. Poor working conditions. Bad employer employee relationship, etc.

(2) Grievances resulting from management policy

Wage payment and job rates. Leave. Overtime. Seniority and Promotional. Transfer. Disciplinary action. Lack of employee development plan. Lack of role clarity.

Causes

Grievances may occur for a number of reasons:Economic: Wage fixation, overtime, bonus, wage revision, etc. Employees may feel that they are paid less when compared to others.Work environment: Poor physical conditions of workplace, tight production norms, defective tools and equipment, poor quality of materials, unfair rules, lack of recognition, etc.Supervision: Relates to the attitudes of the supervisor towards the employee such as perceived notions of bias, favoritism, nepotism, caste affiliations, regional feelings, etc.Work group: Employee is unable to adjust with his colleagues; suffers from feelings of neglect, victimization and becomes an object of ridicule and humiliation, etc.Miscellaneous: These include issues relating to certain violations in respect of promotions, safety methods, transfer, disciplinary rules, fines, granting leave, medical facilities, etc.

Approaches Legalistic ApproachEmployee believes his or her complaint is related to a violation of the labor agreement.Manager can either refuse grievance or accept grievance without prejudging its merits and later deny the grievance without risking an unfair labor practice charge.

Human relation approach: where HR are involves there are likely to be instances when employees feel that they are not treated properly.Grievance procedures are a means of dispute resolution that can be used by a company to address complaints by employees, suppliers, customers, and/or competitors. A grievance procedure provides a hierarchical structure for presenting and settling workplace disputes.Pre requisites of grievance procedureConformity with prevailing legislationClaritySimplicityPromptnessTrainingFollow up

The model comprises of the five steps The aggrieved employee shall convey his or her grievance verbally to the officer designated by the management to deal with grievance. The officer will have to reply to the complaints within forty-eight hours of its presentation to him or her.If the grievant is not satisfied with the answer or does not receive the answer within 48 hours, he or she shall, then, present the grievance to the departmental head nominated for this purpose. The head must give his or her reply within three days of the presentation of the grievance.3. If the aggrieved employee is still not satisfied with the decision of the departmental head or does not receive within the stipulated period, the employee can approach to the Grievance Committee for the settlement of his or her grievance. The Grievance Committee has to give its recommendations in seven days and report the same to the management. The management must communicate the decision to the grievant within three days.4. If still employee is not satisfied either with the decision made by die Grievance Committee or does not receive decision from the committee, he or she can make appeal to the management for revision of the decision taken. The management can take a week period for appeal to be considered and the revised decision to inform to the grievant.5 If the employee is still not satisfied with die managements decision, the grievance is referred to a voluntary arbitration within a week after decision taken by the management at stage 4. The decision of the arbitrator is final and binding on both the parties, i.e., the management and the union.Discipline According to Bremblett, discipline does not mean a strict and technical observance of rigid rules and regulations. It simply means working, cooperating and behaving in a normal and orderly way, as any responsible person would expect an employee to do.Discipline is employ self control which prompts him to willingly co-operate with the organisational standards, rules, objectives etc.Causes of indiscipline Unfair labour practices and victimization on the part of employees, like wage differentials, unreasonable declaration of payment or non payment of bonus, wrongful work assignment, defective grievance procedure.Unhealthy working conditionsUnduly heavy workloadsInadequate welfare facilitiesDefective SupervisionPoverty, frustration generally overshadow the minds of the workers. This agitate his mind and results in indisciplineAbsenteeism, dishonesty, violation of rules, damage to property , strike etc., lead to indiscipline

Maintenance of discipline The essential prerequisites for managing indiscipline areReasonable, legitimate and clear rules and regulationWorkers should be involved in framing rules and regulations so that they willingly accept the rulesPrior notice of the consequences of breaking rulesConsistency and uniformity of punishmentRespect for the human personalityManagement personnel should set high standardsPrinciples of natural justiceNatural justice is identified with the two constituents of a fair hearing, which are the rule against bias ,and the right to a fair hearing. The principles of natural justice must guide all enquires and actions. This means that no person should be appointed to conduct an enquiry, who himself is interested in the outcome- either as an aggrieved party or because he is hostile to the person proceeded against or for any reason.Principles of Natural JusticeRule against BiasRules for the fair hearing.Reasoned decision.

Rule against Bias This means that the administrative authority, who exercises quasi judicial function should be impartial. He should be free from bias.

Rule against BiasRules against bias are based on three maxims.No man shall be a judge in his own cause. Justice should not only be done but manifestly and undoubtedly seem to be done.Judges should be above suspicion.

Rules for the fair hearingThe second important condition of natural justice is that the person whom an action is proposed to be taken, should be given a reasonable opportunity to defend himself. Before passing an order against any person, he must be heard.

For a fair hearing, the following two are necessary Notice.Opportunity of hearing.

Reasoned Decision (Speaking Order)Speaking order means on order which contains reasons for the decision. The administrative authority exercising quasi judicial function should give reasoned decision.

A party to the dispute has a right to know the result of the enquiry and the reason in support of the decision. The reasoned decision safe guards against possible injustice and arbitrary exercise of powers by quasi judicial authority.

Judicial approach to disciplineVarious kinds of misconduct are listed in the standing orders and penalties are also mentioned. The decisions of the Supreme court on various cases also serve as guidelines.Under this approach, the nature of offence in a particular situation is determined by carefully weighing the evidence and taking all the steps prescribed for disciplinary procedure.The law of natural justice is followed, i.e., the offender is given an opportunity to defend himself, cite mitigating factors and to plead for clemency.This is a fair process but it is time-consuming and leads to delays.

Industrial employment act 1946In order to improve the IR climate and standardize conditions of employment including the procedure for disciplinary action, this act was passed in the year 1946.The act necessitates the establishment to define its service rules and prepare standing orders which should be clarified by the certifying officer appointed under the act.In the absence of standing orders the establishment has to follow model of standing orders. It is the duty of the employer not only to certify the standing the orders but to make it known to the workmen and thereby it is obligatory on part of workmen to comply with the provisions of the standing orders.Model standing orders contains provision such asClassification of workmen into permanent, probationers, badlis, temporary, casual and apprentices and the meaning of eachRules for publication of working time, holidays and pay days, wage rates, shift working etcNotice of change in shift workingProvisions regarding attendance and late comingProvisions for leave and various types of leaveProvisions for payment of wages provisions for stoppage of work termination of employmentProvisions for certificate on termination of serviceDisciplinary action for misconductLiability of mangerProvisions for exhibition of standing ordersDOMESTIC ENQUIRYNEED FOR DOMESTIC ENQUIRYFor the smooth functioning of an industry, the defined codes of discipline, contracts of service by awards, agreements and standing orders must be adhered to. In the event of an employee not complying with these codes of conduct, he is liable to face disciplinary actions initiated by the Management according to the Standing Order. This procedure is called Domestic Enquiry and it is conducted in accordance with the standing order/agreements.the term domestic enquiry is mainly used to refer to an enquiry into the charges of indiscipline and misconduct by an employee. In common parlance, domestic enquiry means departmental enquiry or domestic tribunal. In such enquiries, the matter is decided by administrative officers and not by courts of law.