The Grievance Process
A grievance is an informal or formal complaint that is made to management.
In many cases, concerns can be resolved without a formal process. A union representative from your local is available to support you through the process. This resource is provided to give members an overview of the process. Most grievances begin with an informal process and may not need to be formalized.
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Formal Grievance Initiated
Once HR has the grievance form, they will have 15 days to arrange a grievance meeting. The member, Union Steward and additional representative (ie. Local President) assemble meeting materials and attend this meeting with HR.
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Response from HR meeting
If the meeting does not resolve the concern, HR has 15 days to respond in writing to the member. If the matter is not resolved, the union has 15 days to submit the grievance to arbitration.
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Refer to Arbitration
OPSEU grievance assigns a hearing date and Grievance Officer or Law Firm
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Arbitration Results
The arbitration process can take time and the outcome may or may not resolve the concern. At Conestoga College 12 grievances have gone to arbitration (9 Individual/3 Union) and a decision and or grievance date is pending for 6, while the rest were settled in the FT or PL members' favour.
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Event occurs
Article 32.01: Contact you supervisor in person or in writing within 20 days of the event. Exception Article 4 - no timeline.
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Supervisor has 7 business day to respond after discussion.
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Adequate response from supervisor
If the response resolves the situation the process is concluded here.
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This process is known as an Informal grievance.
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Inadequate response from supervisor
If the response is inadequate the member will have 7 days to submit a grievance form to HR. If the member has not already discussed this concern with the union, this would be the time to do so. The union representative can assist in submitting the grievance and will support the member with the next steps of the process.