Handling grievances and deadlines

Who sees what

The Grievances area is open to Administrators, RVPs, and Branch Executives. Members are sent back to the Dashboard. What you see is scoped by role. A Branch Executive sees their own drafts and pending submissions, plus the cases the national office has accepted, which they can track but no longer open. An RVP sees only cases in their own region, with no fallback for cases they filed elsewhere. An Admin sees every case except other people's unsubmitted drafts.

Opening the dashboard needs the viewGrievances capability, and filing or editing needs editGrievances. An administrator grants both in Role Management. Several workflow actions are also limited by role on the server, so capabilities alone are not always enough.

The page header carries a role-specific subtitle, and only roles that can file see a create button. It reads Submit Complaint Form for a Branch Executive and File Grievance for an RVP or admin.

Filing a complaint or grievance

Use the create button to open the filing modal. A Branch Executive's submission saves as a draft for their RVP to review. An RVP or admin submission starts active at Step 1 right away, with no approval step. Required fields are marked with a red star, and the form previews the auto-generated file number and a title built from the employee name, location, and type.

Pick a region (locked to your own for RVPs and Branch Executives, editable for admins) and a grievance type of Individual, Group, or Policy. Policy is available to admins only. Individual cases ask for employee details. Enter the complaint-stage date and, unless the case is Policy, the incident date, which starts the 30-day filing clock. A Policy case replaces the incident date with a policy text box instead.

RVPs and admins must reference at least one collective agreement article when filing. Branch Executives skip that step, since the RVP adds articles when presenting the draft. Admins also complete the representative sign-off section at filing time.

1. 1Click Submit Complaint Form (Branch Executive) or File Grievance (RVP/admin).
2. 2Choose the region and grievance type (Individual, Group, or Policy).
3. 3For an Individual case, fill in the employee's surname, given names, phone, classification, and work location.
4. 4Enter the complaint-stage date and the incident date (or the policy text for a Policy case).
5. 5Describe the grievance and the remedy requested, add referenced articles if you are an RVP or admin, then submit.

From draft to active: present and approve

A Branch Executive's complaint starts as a Draft. An RVP reviews drafts from their region and presents one for Step 1 review, which moves it to Pending and emails the national office and the presenting RVP. Presenting asks the RVP to confirm or add articles and complete the representative section with a name, date, and signature on file.

An admin then reviews pending cases. Approving makes the case active at Step 1 and emails the presenting RVP along with the active-phase distribution list. Returning to draft requires a reason, which is sent to the submitter and shown on the case in an amber banner. Both actions are recorded in the changelog.

Once a case is active it has moved out of the Branch Executive's hands. They keep seeing the row, but the case file locks and shows as handled by the national office.

1. 1RVP: open the Drafts section and review a branch submission.
2. 2RVP: click Present, confirm the referenced articles, sign, and present for Step 1 review.
3. 3Admin: open Pending Approval and review the case.
4. 4Admin: click Approve to activate the case, or Return to Draft with a required reason.

Reading the board and urgency signals

Active cases sit on a three-column board headed Step 1, Step 2, and Arbitration, each with a count. Cards show the file number in monospace, the case name, the stage, the region where it applies, the filed date, and the filer. An employer case number, when set, shows as a blue REF beside the file number.

Urgency is driven by the worst incomplete deadline on the case. An orange chip means a deadline is due soon, within three business days, and a red chip means it is overdue, with text like "Due today" or "Overdue by 2d". No chip means nothing is urgent. For admins the active list sorts overdue first, then due soon, then most recently updated.

A blue bar, dot, or bolder title flags cases with updates you have not seen yet. Opening a case marks it read for you and leaves everyone else's markers alone. An inline search above the active board filters by file number, name, region, stage, and the filer's email handle as you type.

Tracking deadlines and advancing stages

The case file lays out a timeline with Step 1, Step 2, Arbitration, and Resolution cards, and the deadlines are calculated for you from your collective agreement's grievance-procedure article. When you record an event date, the next due date fills in: Step 1 filed sets the Step 1 response due, the Step 1 response sets the Step 2 escalation due, Step 2 filed sets its response due, and the Step 2 response sets the referral-to-arbitration due. The cascade reads only event dates, so a due date you adjust by hand stays authoritative.

Deadlines add calendar days, then roll forward to the next business day if they land on a weekend or a statutory holiday. Urgency counts in business days. Most case fields edit in place: double-click a value, change it, and click Save. Edits save as you go, so Save & Close is just a tidy exit.

Admins and RVPs move an active case forward with Advance Stage and a confirm. Advancing does not send any email. If both parties agree to extend a deadline, admins and RVPs can record it under the Deadline Extensions section with the new date and a required reason, which shifts the live due date and adds a blue Extended chip. Only admins can remove an extension.

1. 1Open a case from the board to see its timeline.
2. 2Record an event by editing the matching date field, for example the Step 1 response received date.
3. 3Let Unionsuite compute the next deadline from that date.
4. 4When a step is done, click Advance Stage and confirm to move the case forward.
5. 5If a deadline is mutually extended, click Record extension (Art. 11.07) and enter the new date and reason.

Forms, comments, files, and the changelog

On an active Step 1 case, the Step 1 Form button generates your deployment's official grievance form as a filled, single-page PDF, opened in a new tab. The article chips on a case feed both this form and the archive's article search.

Each case has a Discussion thread for comments and an Attachments card for PDF files (up to 100 MB each). Files live in folders you can name and color (Blue, Green, Red, or Yellow), including locked folders that need a password of at least four characters. Drag a file onto a folder, a breadcrumb, or the background to move it. Comments post instantly, can be edited by their author for about five minutes, and can be deleted by admins. Comments never trigger emails, but they do count toward unread markers.

The Changelog is a full audit timeline, newest first. It records the case being created, presented, approved, returned, advanced, resolved, and reopened, every field change, attachment uploads and moves, deadline extensions, and deleted comments, each with who acted and when. Comment posts are kept in Discussion rather than the changelog.

1. 1Open the case file and use the comment box to add a note to the thread.
2. 2Upload supporting PDFs in the Attachments card, organizing them into folders if helpful.
3. 3For an active Step 1 case, click Step 1 Form to download the filled grievance PDF.
4. 4Check the Changelog to see who changed what and when.

Resolving, reopening, and deleting

When a grievance ends, an admin can resolve it at any stage, and an RVP can resolve only at Step 1. Resolving asks for an outcome (Won, Lost, Settled, Settled pending implementation, Withdrawn, or Referred to Expedited Arbitration), optional notes, and the file number typed to confirm. The case is archived, becomes read-only, and moves to the Archive. Most outcomes are final.

Choosing Settled pending implementation keeps the case alive. It requires an implementation date and can carry one notify email, sent once on or after that date. These cases stay pinned at the top of the archive with a PENDING IMPL badge, admins keep edit access, and they can be reopened if the settlement is not honoured. Reopening is admins only and only for these cases.

Only draft and pending cases can be deleted, by the owning Branch Executive or an admin, after typing the file number to confirm. Active and closed cases cannot be deleted. The Archive has a fuller search by keyword, article, or date, so closed cases stay easy to find.

1. 1Admin (or RVP at Step 1): click Resolve Grievance and pick an outcome.
2. 2Add any notes, then type the file number to confirm.
3. 3For an unfinished settlement, choose Settled pending implementation and set the implementation date.
4. 4Find closed cases later in the Archive using keyword, article, or date search.