Grievance Policy

Grievance Policy

Simba Sleep (“The Company”, “We”) recognises that there may be occasions where you feel you have been unfairly or inappropriately treated by your colleagues, Line Manager or the Company. This Grievance Policy provides the appropriate informal and formal routes for resolving workplace concerns promptly and effectively.

Purpose

It is our policy to ensure that all employees have access to a procedure to help deal with any grievances relating to their employment fairly and without unreasonable delay. We aim to investigate any formal grievance you raise, hold a meeting to discuss it with you, inform you in writing of the outcome, and give you a right of appeal if you are not satisfied.

Scope

This policy applies to all employees working at and for the Company, including both permanent and temporary employees.

What is a grievance

A grievance is a concern, problem, or complaint that you raise with the Company regarding a work-related matter.

Examples of issues that can form the bases of a grievance include:<< /p>

• Health and Safety matters
• Work relations
• Working practices
• Working environment
• Organisational change
• Terms and Conditions of Employment

Using this procedure

If you have difficulty at any stage of the grievance procedure because of a disability or because English is not your first language, you should discuss the situation with HR as soon as possible.

This grievance procedure cannot be used to complain about dismissal or action under the Disciplinary or Capability Policies. If you are dissatisfied with any such action, you should use the appeal process outlined in the relevant Policy. Grievances raised while you are subject to disciplinary proceedings will usually be heard after the disciplinary process has been completed. If you believe that a grievance has any bearing on the disciplinary proceedings, it can be raised during the process.

In addition, if an employee raises a grievance about another employee's behaviours which would be considered misconduct, it will be investigated and dealt with under the disciplinary procedure.

We have a separate Anti-harassment and Bullying Policy that may be useful if you have been the victim of bullying or harassment or wish to report an incident of bullying or harassment involving other people.

We operate a separate Whistleblowing Policy to enable employees to report illegal activities, wrongdoing or malpractice. However, where you are directly affected by the matter in question, or where you feel you have been victimised for an act of whistleblowing, you may raise the matter under this grievance procedure.

Written grievances will be placed on your personnel file along with a record of any decisions taken and any notes or other documents compiled during the grievance process.

Preliminary steps and alternative points into the grievance process:

Work Related Matter	Step One	Step Two	Step Three
Any general concern	Speak to Line manager and arrange meeting to discuss problem and resolutions	If not satisfied, speak to HR as appropriate to help resolve issue	If still unresolved speak to HR about raising a formal grievance showing documented evidence that the informal route has been exhausted
If you feel you cannot speak to your Line Manager about your concern	Speak to HR as appropriate and arrange meeting	HR as appropriate to mediate between Line Manager/Employee to resolve issue	If still unresolved speak to HR about raising a formal grievance showing documented evidence that the informal route has been exhausted

Raising grievances informally

The majority of grievances can be resolved quickly and informally through discussion with your line manager. They may be able to assist with an informal resolution or discussion of your concern. A large proportion of concerns are based on misunderstandings or unawareness of problems that arise in the workplace. If you feel unable to speak to your manager, for example, because the complaint concerns him or her, then you should speak informally to a more senior manager.

If this does not resolve the issue, you should follow the formal procedure below.

Mediation

An independent third party or mediator can sometimes help resolve disciplinary or grievance issues. Mediation is a voluntary process where the mediator helps two or more people in dispute to attempt to reach an agreement. Any agreement comes from those in dispute, not from the mediator. The mediator is not there to judge, to say one person is right and the other wrong, or to tell those involved in the mediation what they should do. The mediator is in charge of the process of seeking to resolve the problem but not the outcome.

Mediators may be employees trained and accredited by an external mediation service who act as internal mediators in addition to their day jobs. Or they may be from an external mediation provider. They can work individually or in pairs as co-mediators.

There are no hard-and-fast rules for when mediation is appropriate, but it can be used:

• For conflict involving colleagues of a similar job or grade, or between a line manager and their staff
• At any stage in the conflict as long as any ongoing formal procedures are put on hold, or where mediation is included as a stage in the procedures themselves
• To rebuild relationships after a formal dispute has been resolved
• To address a range of issues, including relationship breakdown, personality clashes, communication problems, bullying and harassment.

Formal procedure

If your grievance cannot be resolved informally, you should put it in writing and submit it to your line manager, indicating that it is a formal grievance. If the grievance concerns him or her, you may submit it instead to a more senior manager or HR. If you need assistance in writing and submitting the grievance, speak to a member of the HR team about external support available.

Grievances may be concerned with a wide range of issues, including the allocation of work, your working environment or conditions, the opportunities that you have been given for career development or the way in which you have been managed. However, issues that are the subject of collective negotiation or consultation directly with employees will not be considered under the grievance procedure.

The right to be accompanied

You may bring a companion to any grievance meeting or appeal meeting under this procedure. The companion may be either a Trade Union representative or a colleague. For the avoidance of doubt, the right of accompaniment does not extend to legal representatives or family members. Trade Union officials will be required to show evidence of their accreditation by their union. You must tell the person holding the grievance meeting who your chosen companion is, in good time before the meeting.

Acting as a companion is voluntary and your colleagues are under no obligation to do so. If they agree to do so, they will be allowed reasonable time off from duties without loss of pay to act as a companion. They should ensure that they inform their manager when they have been asked to attend a meeting and agree that they can be released.

If your choice of companion is unreasonable, we may ask you to choose someone else, for example:

• If in our opinion your companion may have a conflict of interest or may prejudice the meeting; or
• If your companion works at another site and someone reasonably suitable is available at the site at which you work; or
• If your companion is unavailable at the time a meeting is scheduled and will not be available for more than five working days afterwards.

The role of the companion and information about accepting this role is detailed at Appendix A

To summarise, a companion may, with the consent of the employee they are accompanying;

• Ask questions to increase their knowledge & understanding of the case
• Address the hearing on behalf of the employee they represent, sum up the case and respond to any views expressed
• Ask to adjourn the proceedings in order to discuss with the represented employee

However, a companion may not answer questions on behalf of the represented employee or prevent the employer from explaining their case.

Meeting arrangements

A HR representative will be present during any formal grievance meetings to take notes and to ensure that the Company Grievance Policy is adhered to.

You and your companion (if any) should make every effort to attend grievance meetings. You have the right to postpone the proposed grievance hearing by up to five working days from the first day proposed by the Company, however, you must have a legitimate reason to do so, such as:

• Pre- authorised annual leave,
• Your companion or Trade Union Rep is not available on that date
• You have childcare or carer responsibilities

If you or your companion cannot attend at the time specified, you should inform us immediately and we will try, within reason, to agree an alternative time.

If you are unable to attend a re-arranged time, the meeting may continue, and a decision may be made in your absence.

Please inform the appropriate person (as stated in any correspondence to you) in advance if you require any special arrangements at any meetings to allow you to better attend or participate in the meeting (for example for disability or language reasons).

Evidence, note-taking & record keeping

The Company reserves the right to refuse the admission of evidence covertly obtained in any proceedings.

It is not permitted to audio or video record any investigative meeting or hearing. The Company will arrange for notes to be taken at the formal meeting and you will be given the opportunity to review, sign and date these after the meeting to confirm your agreement or objections to the notes. You or your companion are free to take your own notes too.

If you do not agree with the meeting notes you may add any corrections into the transcript. If the additions are in line with the Company's understanding of events, then the revised script with additions will be retained. If the additions are not agreed by the Company, both versions of the meeting notes will be kept.

The Company will maintain a record of a formal grievances raised, the decision (including any appeal) and any action taken. This record will be kept on your employee file

Step One - Raising the grievance

The written grievance should contain a brief description of the nature of your complaint, including any relevant facts, dates, and names of individuals involved. In some situations, we may need to ask you to provide further information.

Your grievance must:

• Be made in writing to your immediate Line Manager (if the grievance relates to your Line Manager then it should be addressed to their immediate Line Manager) and you must provide a copy to the HR team
• Be made without unreasonable delay from the date when the incident occurred
• Clearly explain who and what your grievance is about, and when the incident took place
• Identify what (if any) informal action has taken place
• Identify why you felt any informal action was unsuccessful or not appropriate.
• Detail what outcome you would ideally like to achieve

After lodging your formal grievance, you will be contacted to talk through the process. We will then arrange a grievance meeting, normally within five working days of receiving your written grievance, subject to the need to carry out prior investigation.

For operational reasons the business can request a delay.

Step Two - Grievance meeting/s

The purpose of the first meeting is to:

• Establish the facts of the grievance;
• Explore possible options to resolve the problem

Grievance meeting will be held between yourself and your Line Manager (if the grievance relates to your Line Manager then it will be with their immediate Line Manager). You and the manager may be accompanied in accordance with the principles outlined above.

While you will be given every opportunity to explain your case fully, you should confine your explanation to matters that are directly relevant to your complaint. The manager conducting the hearing will intervene if he/she thinks that the discussion is straying too far from the key issue. The manager may also intervene to ensure that the meeting can be completed within a reasonable timeframe, depending on the nature and complexity of your complaint.

The manager conducting the hearing may adjourn the meeting at any stage or consider a request for an adjournment from you if further information and investigation is needed or the request for an adjournment appears necessary.

Following the meeting and any further meetings and/or investigations, we will write to you, usually within five working days of the final grievance meeting, to inform you of the outcome of your grievance and any further action that we intend to take to resolve the grievance. The written outcome may take longer depending on the nature of the grievance. We will inform you of any potential delay.

You will receive a copy of the minutes of the hearing. We will also remind you of your right of appeal and will confirm who the appeal should be addressed to. Where appropriate we may hold a meeting to give you this information in person.

Investigations

In some cases, it may be necessary for us to carry out an investigation into your grievance. The amount of any investigation required will depend on the nature of the grievance and will vary from case to case. It may involve interviewing and taking statements from you and any witnesses, and/or reviewing relevant documents. The investigation will normally be carried out by the person you have submitted your grievance to.

You must co-operate fully and promptly in any investigation. This may include informing us of the names of any relevant witnesses, disclosing any relevant documents to us and attending interviews, as part of our investigation.

We may initiate an investigation before holding a grievance meeting where we consider this appropriate. In other cases, we may hold a grievance meeting before deciding what investigation (if any) to carry out. In those cases, we will hold a further grievance meeting with you after our investigation and before we reach a decision. If any evidence is gathered during these investigations, you will be given a copy long enough in advance of the hearing for you to consider your response. In exceptional circumstances, the evidence given by individuals may have to remain confidential. Where confidentiality is necessary, this will be explained to you and an appropriate summary of the evidence gathered will be given to you.

Appeal

If the grievance has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you may appeal in writing to the person stated in the letter notifying you of the outcome of Company's decision within five working days from the date of the letter, stating your full grounds of appeal. Your letter must:

• Provide full details of the basis of your appeal (i.e. state exactly why you say the grievance decision was flawed)
• State your preferred solution
• Attach any new evidence that was not available at the time of the initial grievance to support your claim
• Attach your signed and marked up copy of the minutes of the grievance hearing, either indicating that they are correct, or showing any corrections that you believe better accord with what happened in that hearing

We will hold an appeal meeting, normally within five working days of receiving your written appeal. This will be dealt with impartially, where practicable by a more senior, or at least equivalent, manager who has not previously been involved in the case (although they may ask anyone previously involved to be present). You have a right to bring a companion to the meeting as stated above.

Following the appeal meeting, and any further meetings and/or investigations which the conducting manager considers appropriate, you will receive a written response detailing the decision. Their decision on the appeal is final, and there is no further right to appeal.

Working days

Please note, where time limits are specified in this document in terms of “working days” that “working days” are defined as Monday - Friday, excluding bank holidays.

Appendix A: The role of the companion

Your main role as a companion is to support the employee whom you are accompanying. You may ask questions to increase your knowledge and understanding of the issues being discussed and you are allowed to ask to leave the room and confer with the employee. You may not answer questions on behalf of the employee. You may make submissions/representations to summarise or highlight the employee's case if the employee wishes you to do so. The hearing manager should give you the opportunity to do this before the end of the hearing.

Do I have a duty to accept a request to act as a companion?

No, you do not have to accept a request to accompany a colleague. No pressure should be placed on you to attend, and you do not have to give a reason for your decision not to attend. Acceptance or refusal of any request will not reflect personally on you.

Do I have to have legal knowledge and expertise?

You do not have to know the law, but you should be familiar with the facts of the particular case. You should get together with your colleague beforehand to discuss the issues being considered at the hearing so that you are fully informed. If you want any additional information before the hearing, you should contact the Human Resources team.

Will I get paid for the time off?

Companions can attend meetings during working hours without loss of pay. You will be given the time not only to attend the hearing, but also reasonable time to familiarise yourself with the case and to confer with your colleague before and after the hearing. If you choose to accept the request to act as a companion you are entitled to ask your manager to be released from your normal duties for a reasonable amount of time (with pay), in order to complete these duties. If the person who has asked you to be a companion is based geographically far from your normal place of work, it may not be reasonable for you to be given paid time to be the companion. The company will make a decision on the amount of paid time off to grant, based on all the circumstances of the individual case.

Please contact the Human Resources team if you have any queries.

Other Policies that may be relevant

This policy references other policies within Simba that may be relevant or of interest.

Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment Policy

Capability Policy

Data protection and info handling Policy

Disciplinary Policy

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy

Flexible working Policy

Grievance Policy

Staff privacy notice

Subject access request handling Policy

Review

Simba is committed to ensuring our policies remain up to date. As part of this ongoing commitment, this policy will be reviewed at least on an annual basis along with the company's annual policy review.

Grievance Reporting - 2025/2026

Zero - There was no formal grievance cases submitted within this timeframe