A Grievance is a concern or complaint related to work or the work environment from an employee.

Grievance Policy.

The Apprenticeship Factory values its apprentices and recognises that all personnel make substantial contribution to the organisation’s work systems and structures.

The Apprenticeship Factory’s objective is to ensure that all apprentices gain pleasure and enjoyment for the performance of their professional duties. The organisation is therefore committed to maintaining a high standard of staff welfare.

The Apprenticeship Factory endeavours to achieve its stated objective by fostering a positive work environment and harmonious professional relationships for all apprentices, host employers and staff.

The organisation will minimise incident/s that negate the stated objective by encouraging all apprentices to adhere to the following Grievance Procedure if and when a grievance should occur.

Grievance Procedure

In the execution of the Procedure all information held and documented will be treated with the greatest respect and with the highest level of confidentiality. All documents will be destroyed upon written request.

Persons involved in the Grievance Procedure or who have knowledge of the grievance are not permitted at any time to discuss or disclose with peers, other professionals, family, relatives or friends any information related to the grievance. Offending persons will have their employment terminated immediately with The Apprenticeship Factory

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this procedure is to formally address, arbitrate and resolve grievances arising from the apprentices work environment and, in a timely manner, achieve an outcome that satisfies affected person/s.

SCOPE:

The procedure will be instigated once a complaint has been lodged with the Field Officer or Operations Manager on any issue, concern, omission; act or incident relating to the workplace that an employee believes is unfair, discriminatory or unjust.

Registration and submission of a grievance can only be received from an individual.

Before embarking upon the following procedure The Apprenticeship Factory encourages all aggrieved employees to, if possible, inform the person who is acting in an unsuitable or unfair way that his or her behaviour is not acceptable and/or is offensive. Both parties should discuss the matter and seek agreed resolution.

PROCEDURE:

1. The apprentice/s shall convey their grievance with one of the Contact persons below.
   • The Operations Manager
   • The Field Officer
   It is important and highly recommended that the aggrieved person identifies with and selects the most suitable Contact person at the outset. This can largely be determined by, amongst other considerations, the Contact’s person’s professional status, reputation, integrity, gender, impartiality and dispute resolution skills.
2. The apprentice/s shall discuss and detail with the Contact person the circumstances leading to their grievance and state the impact/s that the grievance has on the performance of work duties.
3. At the first meeting the Contact person will determine the severity of the grievance. The Contact person can at this point suggest a simple resolution to the problem and seek the Apprentice’s agreement to act on the resolution.
4. If the grievance is deemed to be serious and warrants further controlled action the Contact person will document the case in a Grievance Report form. In the event that the Apprentice agrees to a Grievance Report being completed the Apprentice is required to verify the correctness and accuracy of the Report’s details by signing the form.
5. The Contact person will, in his or her own time and without undue delay, evaluate and substantiate the grievance. This may involve communication with the offending person/s to discuss their version of events leading to the grievance.
6. The Contact person, after considering all factual information on an objective basis, is then obligated to formulate and propose a course of action that will lead to the timely and effective grievance resolution. This may be achieved by meeting with each individual or by meeting on a collective basis with all persons affected. Proposed corrective action could involve, but is not limited to:
   • A verbal or written apology.
   • An official warning issued.
   • Further counselling.
   • Possible dismissal.
   • Provision of training in relevant areas (eg. Equal Opportunity Laws)
   • Close mentoring and monitoring.
   In the event that a resolution is achieved the Contact person will monitor the new scenario for at least 4 weeks to ensure that an effective and lasting outcome has been achieved.
7. In the event that resolution is not achieved at step 6 the CEO shall review the grievance and steps taken to reach a resolution. The CEO shall determine if no further action is required or implement corrective action to resolve the grievance to the satisfaction of all involved.
8. In the event that resolution is not achieved in step 7, the matter will then be referred to the state appointed Field Officer for discussion and final resolution.

Grievance Policy Download the Grievance Policy in PDF format. – 654 KB PDF file