EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCE AND
REDRESSAL

What do we understand by ‘employee
grievance’?
• Employee grievance refers to the dissatisfaction
of an employee with what he expects from the
company and its management.
• According to Michael J. Jucius:
Grievance means “any discontent or dissatisfaction,
whether expressed or not and whether valid or not,
arising out of anything connected with the company
that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, is
unfair, unjust, or inequitable.”

Grievance may arise due to the
following factors:
• Violation of management’s responsibility such
as poor working conditions
• Violation of company’s rules and practices
• Violation of collective bargaining agreement
• Violation of labour laws
• Violation of natural rules of justice such as
unfair treatment in promotion

Essentials of grievance:
• The discontentment arises out of something
connected with the organisation.
• A grievance may be expressed or implied.
• The discontent may be rational or irrational.

SOURCES OF GRIEVANCE
The sources of grievance are group under three heads:
1) Grievance resulting from Management Policies:
a) Wage rates or scale of pay
b) Overtime
c) Leave
d) Transfer – improper matching of the worker with the job
e) Seniority, promotion and discharges
f) Lack of career planning and employee development plan
g) Lack of role clarity
h) Lack of regard for collective agreement.
i) Hostility towards a labour union.
j) Autocratic leadership style of supervisors

Sources of grievance (contd.)
2) Grievance resulting from Working conditions:
a) Unrealistic
b) Non-availability of proper tools, machines and
equipment for doing the job.
c) Tight production standards.
d) Bad physical conditions of work place.
e) Poor relationship with the supervisor.
f) Negative approach to discipline.

Sources of grievance (contd.)
3) Grievances resulting from Personal factors:
a) Narrow attitude
b) Over-ambition
c) Egoistic personality

Handling of grievance
• It is important to keep some points in mind
while dealing with grievances of subordinates.
These are:
a) A grievance may not be real
b) Grievances may arise out of not one cause,
but multifarious causes.
c) Every individual does not give expression to
his grievances.

Handling of grievance (contd.)
A manager needs to follow some guidelines to deal effectively
with the grievances:
1) The complainant should be given a patient hearing.
2) Attempts should be made to get at the root of the
problem.
3) The management must show its anxiety to remove the
grievances of the workers
4) If the grievances are real and their causes are known,
attempts should be made to remove the causes.
5) If the grievances are imaginary or unfounded, attempts
should be made to counsel the workers.

Grievance Procedure
• There are two procedures for redressing the
grievances of the employees:
1) Open door policy: Under this procedure the
employees are free to meet the top executive of
the organisation and get grievances redressed.
2) Step-ladder procedure: Under this procedure,
the aggrieved employee has to proceed step by
step in getting his grievance heard and
redressed.

Grievance Procedure (contd.)
Step-ladder procedure:

Essentials of a good grievance
procedure
• A grievance procedure must follow certain principles which
are listed below:
1) A grievance should be dealt with in the first instance at the
lowest level.
2) The line of appeal must be made clear to the employees.
3) Grievances should be dealt with speedily.
4) If the grievance is against an instruction given by a
superior, it is in the interest of the discipline that
instruction must be carried out.
5) The grievance procedure should be set up with the
participation of the employees and it should be applicable
to all in the organisation.

Essentials of Good grievance
procedure (contd.)
• A good grievance procedure must:
1) Be simple: It should be simple so that even an
average employee can understand it.
2) Time bound: It should lay down the time limit
which should not be exceeded at every step of
the grievance procedure.
3) Involve participation of the employee leaders: It
should be developed with the participation of
the leaders of the employees and must be
applicable to all.