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A grievous attack on our rights

28 November 2008

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs group organiser Marilyn Bayes reports on attempts to short-circuit the unions over grievances.

Defra has unilaterally changed its grievance policy to deny staff the right to be accompanied at informal meetings.

Other changes include an implied threat of disciplinary action for staff who make complaints, abolition of the long-held right to take grievances to the permanent secretary, and abolition of the disputed reports procedure.

Needless to say, we are fighting this fundamental attack on our terms and conditions, which we expect will lead to a significant increase in the number of formal grievances.

The department’s diversity team is also concerned about the impact for minority groups who already have a negative opinion of Defra’s equal opportunities approach.

We have advised management that we do not accept the new system being imposed, and that we will continue to support staff who wish to raise grievances under agreed procedures.

We have also made clear that we will protect our members from any attempts to discipline them for raising legitimate grievances.

In the meantime, we’re holding workshops for members to provide advice and support and we are training more reps to handle formal grievance cases.

Key changes which we do not accept include:

The right to be accompanied

The new policy seeks to impose regulation on informal as well as formal processes for dealing with complaints and denies staff the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or colleague at an informal meeting with a manager.

Eighty per cent of personal cases which come to us are currently resolved in this way, and it is the process most preferred by staff, trade unions and managers.

Denying staff the right to be accompanied is likely to entrench positions, make ‘difficult conversations’ even more difficult, create misunderstandings and increase the level of tension in the workplace.

We will have no option but to advise members to move to a formal grievance in more cases of dispute if the employer rejects staff requests to be accompanied at informal meetings.

Under formal grievance a member’s right to be accompanied is protected by employment law and Defra cannot deny its staff this right.

Abolition of the disputed reports procedure

The new policy will take away our members’ right to a disputed reports procedure and force all staff who wish to contest their report marking to do so under formal grievance procedures.

The policy also states that such grievances will only be heard if a complaint is lodged within 15 days of being notified of the performance marking.

Given that Defra has just imposed a new performance appraisal system on staff which will see markings ‘moderated’ through a quota system, we can only believe that this decision is a cynical attempt by the employer to limit the number of complaints they expect to result from the new marking system.

Across the network, agency managers have accepted the wisdom of retaining a disputed reports procedure.

We believe that it is only in the core department that this action has been taken.

Limiting the number of steps

The new policy seeks to limit the number of steps in the grievance process to one grievance complaint hearing and one appeal.

We believe this will restrict staff access to an independent decision and is likely to increase the number of cases that will need to be taken to employment tribunal.

The right to take grievances to the permanent secretary

The new policy seeks to deny staff the right to take grievances to the permanent secretary – a right enshrined in departmental policy for many years.

We believe this is a fundamental term and condition of employment through custom and practice, and is a right still available to colleagues in the Defra agencies.

We have sought legal advice and intend to continue to exercise this right where it is in the interests of our members to do so.

If the Defra permanent secretary refuses to hear such grievances we are prepared to challenge this at the next level of appeal, i.e. to the Civil Service Appeals Board or employment tribunal.

Disciplinary action

Up to the time of writing, this new policy included a statement that said:

“If the employee’s grievance is found to be frivolous, malicious or false, disciplinary action may be taken against them.”

We have argued for this to be repealed. However we believe its inclusion is proof of the mindset of those responsible for introducing this policy and that it is a blatant attempt to intimidate staff and deter them from lodging legitimate grievances.

We have assured all members that if they lodge a grievance to their employer through the union, then this becomes a dispute between the employer and the union and the employer cannot take action against the individual.

This is a fundamental principle of trade unionism and we will protect our members’ right to lodge grievances and protect members from attempts at victimisation.
 

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