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There may be many reasons for employee grievances. Lack of communication, violations, etc. may lead to grievances and it may be triggered at any point of time. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding employee grievances: Q. What procedure should an employee follow to file a grievance?
Firstly, the employee needs to identify the illegal conduct of the employer. Every conduct of an employer does not become illegal just because the employer is bad. Rude comments or behavior that involves race, sex, age, or other characteristics interfering with the employee’s job performance, are some of the examples of illegal employer behavior. If the environment in the workplace is aggressive or threatening to the employee then it is termed as a hostile work environment. An employee may report the illegal conduct of an employer to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the human rights department in the state. Q. The supervisor of an employee has already evaluated the employee, but the supervisor’s boss overrules the evaluation. Can this be considered as a case of grievance?
An evaluation done by a supervisor can be overruled by another supervisor and there is no law that prevents this. However, if an employee is of the opinion that the evaluation was unjust; then such an evaluation may be disputed with the company’s grievance board. This would enable one to get a chance to discuss if the second evaluation was correct based on the performance and work history. Q. What action can an employee take if religious slurs were made by his/her supervisor?
One may file a claim in the EEOC office where one is employed if the supervisor has a long standing record of making comments that could be termed as religious discrimination. If the supervisor has made a nonchalant comment, it may not be sufficient to file a claim. One must be able to prove that the supervisor is unlawfully discriminating or displaying hatred towards a religion that goes beyond employment. One should attempt to resolve the issue within the company by approaching the HR office before filing a claim with the EEOC, failing which the court may decline to review the grievance. Q. An employee has accepted that he/she was involved in stealing and is also a member of a union. Should the union representative represent this employee?
One of the responsibilities of a union is to represent the union members fairly. In a situation such as the above where the employee has already accepted that he/she was involved in stealing (it is an offence for which one can be terminated); the union is not required to represent him/her. Q. If one was terminated, can a grievance be filed against the employer?
If an employee is an at will employee, he/she can be terminated without any notice at any point of time. However, if there is a written employment contract stating that the employment will not end until a certain period of time; then the employer may not terminate the employee prior to this time. This may amount to breach of contract. In addition, one may not be terminated based on race, sex, age or disability. The reason for termination plays an important role in determining if a grievance can be filed or not. One may ask an employment lawyer for assistance about employee grievances as work related situations have an impact on one’s job and career.
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