1 The matter should be raised with the appropriate Director and Group Leader (or, in respect

of a Member not within a political group on the Council, the Mayor) who will decide, in the first instance, whether the complaint has substance.

 

2 If it is decided that the complaint has substance the Director and the aggrieved will raise the issue with the Managing Director as soon as reasonably practicable.  The role of the Managing Director in this procedure will be separate to that of the "investigating" Director.

 

3  (a)  The Managing Director will then discuss the matter with the appropriate Group Leader

          or the relevant Member if he/she is not within a political group of the Council, with a

          view to resolving the matter on an informal basis including liaison between the

          Managing Director and the aggrieved and the relevant member as appropriate, within

          15 working days of the matter being raised with the Managing Director.

 

    (b)  The process to which the Managing Director and the Group Leader will have regard

          under 3(a) above in attempting to resolve matters on an informal basis will be as

          follows:

    

          (i)  there will be a written note kept by the Managing Director in accordance with 3(a)

               above, setting out the nature of the grievance and the "events" occurring during the

               informal process, wherever practicable covering all of the points immediately

               following below;

 

          (ii)  the Managing Director will request the parties to the grievance to make a note of

               their recollections in writing as soon as practicable - these notes may be needed

               if the informal process does not resolve matters satisfactorily to both parties - and

               these notes will be incorporated in the Managing Director's note or appended to it,

               whichever is more appropriate;

 

         (iii)  the Managing Director will inform the parties of the 15 working days maximum

               being available for informal resolution of the grievance, specifically of the start and

               finish date of those 15 days;

 

         (iv)  as part of (iii) above, the Managing Director will issue copies of the whole of

               Appendix 2 to the parties to the grievance;

 

          (v)  the Managing Director's note required under 3(a) of this Appendix will incorporate

               or have appended to it details of any other written communication with the parties

               as they occur, or notes of any verbal communications as they occur, if not already

               identified above;

 

          (vi)  if it were to become an issue, the Managing Director will inform all parties of the

                need for any extension to the 15 working days allowed for this informal process,

                detail that extension, and incorporate that detail in the note required under 3(a)

                above;

 

         (vii)  it is open to the aggrieved to withdraw their complaint at any point during the 15

                working days, or any extension to it.  This will become effective by the aggrieved

                communicating that fact to the Managing Director in writing as soon as

                practicable.  The Managing Director may inform the Councillor of this verbally, but

                that communication must be confirmed in writing and form part of the note

                required under 3(a) above.

 

4 In the event of no resolution within this period, the aggrieved shall be informed and may then give written notice to the Managing Director within five working days requesting the grievance be heard by the Standards Committee.

 

5 The meeting of the Standards Committee to hear the grievance will normally be arranged to take place within 20 working days of receipt of the request from the aggrieved employee.  Under normal circumstances, events prior to the meeting of the Staffing Matters Committee will be in accordance with the following timetable:

 

(1)  the Democratic Services Manager or Democratic Services Officer, as relevant, as

     directed by the Managing Director, will issue a letter to all parties as soon as possible

     after commencement of the 20 working days, informing them of the date, time and venue

     of meeting only;

 

(2)  the formal agenda for the meeting will be despatched to all parties (including members)

      five working days before the meeting;

 

(3)  any confidential papers relating to the appeal should ordinarily be with the Democratic

      Services Manager or the Democratic Services Officer as relevant so thay can be

      despatched to all parties no later than four working days before the meeting;

 

      (NB:  For the purposes of (2) and (3) above "working days" exclude the date of the

 

(4)  the timescale at (2) is dectated by the Access to Information Act; that at (3) may be

      varied if the (probably) confidential papers are ready for despatch at an earlier date.

 

6  Two calendar days before the meeting (but excluding weekends or bank holidays), the Chairman of the Panel shall review the working file(s) of the Managing Director and the Group Leader, to satisfy themselves that the procedures detailed at 91) to (5) above have been followed appropriately.

 

7  Immediately prior to the formal start of the meeting itself, the Chairman will check with both the aggrieved and the relevant member as to whether there is any chance of an informal resolution to the grievance and whether some short period of time might assist such resolution, even if this were to delay the start of the meeting.  Such request, if received, should not unreasonably be rejected.

 

8.  At the start of the meeting, the Chairman will ask both parties to confirm that the procedures at 1 to 5 have been followed appropriately.

 

9 The aggrieved employee and the Member shall have the right to be accompanied by their Union representative or a colleague of their choice. The Director or his/her nominated officer will have the right to be present but will not participate. The Managing Director and the Monitoring Officer, or a nominated Officer of his will have the right to be present but will not participate other than by giving advice, including on legal or procedural issues, if necessary.

 

10 The decision of the Standards Committee on the grievance will be final and will be given verbally by the Chairman of the Panel.  A written note of the decision will be given to the aggrieved employee and the Member within five working days of the hearing.