MES Grievance Policy

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Grievance Policy

DOCUMENT REVISION CONTROL AND AMENDMENT RECORD

DEFINITION:

Grievance is any complaint or incident of discrimination, harassment or any other matter arising in the course of employment that occurred at or in connection with an endorsed MES related activity.

MES is committed to providing a work environment that is safe, fair and free from discrimination and harassment for all employees and outside third parties to report issues relating to the company or its employees. An essential part of developing that environment is ensuring that personnel are encouraged to come forward with their grievances in the knowledge that MES will take prompt and effective action to address complaints of discrimination, harassment or any other matters arising in the course of employment. Grievances that are not addressed have the potential to grow into major problems that can cause tension, low morale and reduced performance and productivity.

Every Employee has a right to air his/her grievance with Line Management. The procedures to handle Grievances are as follows:

Reporting

An Employee with a Grievance is to report the case to his/her immediate Line Manager. If the Grievance is against the Line Manager, the Employee should report the issue with the Departmental Manager and so on up the Chain of Command. If the employee does not feel they are able to report this through the MES procedures the complaint should be made to the relevant authorities or proscribed person.

Action to be taken by Line Management

Line Manager/Departmental Manager is to hear the Employee’s grievance with empathy, but at the same time deduce facts from fiction and emotional spin, to establish the root cause of a grievance/complaint. Trivial issues should be dealt with and resolved at Line Management level. If an issue cannot be dealt with at Line Management level, then the issue is to be escalated to the HR Manager to deal with.

Action to be taken by the HR Manager

The HR Manager is to review the issue referring to the Company’s Disciplinary Code and decide whether the case can be dealt with by Line Management. If this is the case, the HR Manager is to refer the case back to Line Management with advice on how to deal with it. If upon reviewing the case the HR Manager decides that the issue should be escalated to Senior Management, he is to form an Ad Hoc Grievance Panel to deal with it.

Composition of the Grievance Panel

The Grievance Panel members will consist of the CEO (Chair), HR Manager (Member) and a Head of Department (Member) not involved in the issue.

Timeframe

The Grievance Panel will hear the case within 5 – 14 working days, taking into consideration shift rosters and the availability of Panel members and witnesses.

The Hearing

The Grievance Panel has the authority to call any employee of the company to give evidence. The Grievance Panel will afford the Complainant the opportunity to present his/her case and call witnesses to give evidence.

The Decision

The Grievance Panel, upon hearing all the evidence and facts presented, will make a decision on the corrective action to be taken. The Grievance Panel may adjourn to make its deliberation and publish its decision at a later date. The Grievance Panel will use the Company’s Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Code to arrive at a decision if culpability is evident.

Appeal

The Complainant has the right of appeal if he/she is unsatisfied with the decision made by the Line Manager or the Grievance Panel. In this instance, the case is to be passed again to the CEO for deliberation. The CEO’s decision will be final.

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Human Resources

The Human Resources Department is responsible for administering and monitoring this policy. This entails providing advice and assistance in the implementation of the policy; monitoring cases and trends; evaluating and reporting on the overall operation of the procedures.

Directors/Managers/Supervisors

In addition, Directors/Managers/Supervisors who oversee or direct the work of staff are responsible for taking all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination, harassment or any other matters arising in the course of employment. It is expected that Directors, Managers and Supervisors will, in their own behaviour, provide a model of good conduct.

Directors, Managers and Supervisors are also responsible for identifying and addressing problems through appropriate management practices. Resolution of discrimination, harassment or any other matters arising in the course of employment is an integral part of any management duties.

Complainants

Employees making complaints (complainants) have the responsibility to participate seriously in attempts to resolve their grievance, not to make vexatious or malicious grievances and to recognize that the person complained about has the right to respond to the allegations.

Respondents

Employees against whom a grievance has been lodged (respondents) have a responsibility to participate seriously in attempts to resolve the issues; to recognize the complainant's right to raise their concerns and not to victimize or harass the complainant or others involved in resolving the grievance, in any way.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The operation of this policy will be monitored and a review conducted at the end of every 12-month period. The HR Manager will be responsible for initiating the review.

Records

The HR department is to maintain any necessary details relating to employees who have acted in breach of this policy in the respective employees' personnel files. Attached to this document is a Grievance Control Sheet to be used to record the Grievance issue and resolution made. The Employee is to sign the Grievance Control Sheet to acknowledge the resolution of his/her issue. The original copy is to be retained in the Department’s personnel file. A copy of the Control Sheet is to be passed to the HR Department for retention.

Outside Third Party Grievance

An outside third party that wishes to voice a grievance against the company or its employees can do so through contacting [email protected] or go to our website (www.mes106.com) under Who we are (Vision and Values) and click Integrity for more details. If the third party does not feel they are able to report this through the MES procedures, the complaint should be made to the relevant authorities or proscribed person.

Grievance complaints will be investigated by the Country Management Team and complainants will receive a response to their grievances as soon as practicably possible with efficiency and with the correct transparency.

The timeframe from initial grievance report to the reply will be within 5-10 working days.

The information provided by complainants will be treated by the company on a totally confidential and anonymous basis if they should choose. Complainants have our guarantee that their comments will be heard and acted upon.