Health and Safety Policy
Policy Statement:
Beautiful Beginning Academy recognizes that from time to time, staff may wish to seek redress for grievances related to their employment. In this regard, the school’s policy is to encourage open communication between staff and their supervisors, ensuring that questions and problems arising during employment can be addressed and, whenever possible, resolved promptly and to the satisfaction of all parties. We aim to resolve grievances at the lowest appropriate level.
Formal Procedure:
1. Informal Resolution: Whenever possible, staff should first attempt to resolve their grievance informally by discussing it with their immediate supervisor or Head of Department.
2. Formal Grievance Procedure:
a. If the matter cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, the staff member should submit the grievance in writing to the Human Resources (HR) Department. HR will investigate the matter and arrange a meeting within three working days of receiving the written request unless exceptional circumstances prevent this. HR may attend as a note-taker. Following due consideration, a written decision will be provided by the manager within five working days of the grievance hearing. The staff member will be offered the right to appeal.
b. If the staff member remains dissatisfied with the decision taken in the previous step, or if the matter remains unresolved, they should address their grievance in writing to their Head of School, outlining the nature of the grievance. The Head of School will review all previous evidence and, if necessary, conduct further investigations in consultation with the manager who heard the original grievance. A meeting will be scheduled within five working days of receiving the written notification unless exceptional circumstances prevent this. The Head of School will provide a written response to the staff member within five days of the Grievance meeting, detailing the outcome. The decision at this stage will be final.
3. Appeals and Disciplinary Matters: Grievances related to disciplinary actions and dismissal are not typically heard under this procedure as they fall under the school’s separate disciplinary appeals procedure. However, this procedure may be used if either the disciplinary action taken potentially constitutes an unlawful act or if the staff member believes that the grounds for disciplinary action differ from what the Head of School
claimed. If a disciplinary appeal is pending, the complaint can be dealt with in conjunction with the disciplinary appeal process.
Additional Clauses:
1. Breach of Organization’s Policy: If a grievance arises because of a breach of the organization’s policy, particularly concerning harassment, victimization, discrimination, etc., HR must be immediately notified.
2. Confidential or Personal Matters: When complaints are too personal to discuss initially with the staff member’s Manager, the matter must be referred directly to HR.
3. Malicious Complaints: It should be noted that if, upon investigation, a complaint is proven to be deliberately malicious, the staff member making the complaint may become the subject of disciplinary action.
This Grievance Policy is designed to ensure a fair and structured process for addressing staff grievances and promoting a positive working environment at Beautiful Beginning Academy. It will be reviewed and updated as needed to maintain its effectiveness.