Grievance checklist and deadline tracker · page 1 of 2

Grievance checklist and deadline tracker

One grievance per form. Fill in the dates first: they decide more grievances than the facts do. Built from the SEIU Local 521 intake form and the PSAC grievance file checklist. The procedure it tracks is explained at avichat.ca/resources/bulletin/union-grievance-procedure.

1Intake fill in at the first conversation

Member

Phone and personal email

Department, classification, supervisor

Steward, and date of intake

Date of the incident (or the first day of a continuing violation)

Date the member learned of it (matters when the clock runs from knowledge)

2The six Ws

What happened

Who was involved

Where, and on what shift

Witnesses, and how to reach them

Why it violates the agreement

3The case

Article(s) and section(s) violated (cite every provision that may apply, including side letters and past practice)

Type of grievance (individual, group, policy; discipline or interpretation)

Which step it enters at, under your agreement

Remedy requested (rescind the discipline; lost wages and premiums; seniority date; post the job; cease and desist; declaration; and that the grievor be made whole)

Documents and records to preserve (schedules, bid sheets, texts, emails, the discipline letter, attendance and seniority records, the policy as it read that day, video)

Information requested from the employer, and the date

Grievance checklist and deadline tracker · page 2 of 2

4Before you file

Member told to keep working unless the order is illegal or unsafeWork now, grieve later. A safety refusal has its own procedure; invoke it by name.

Checked whether this is also a safety, harassment, human rights or accommodation matter with its own clock

Read the grievance article: how many days, calendar or working, counted from the event or from knowledge

Checked which step this grievance enters atSome agreements send discipline, discharge, group or policy grievances straight to a later step.

Informal meeting held, and any settlement or extension put in writing

Member's written consent obtained before handling any medical information

If the deadline is close, file now and keep investigating

Copy of the filed grievance kept, with the date it was received

5The clocks write the due date the day the previous stage ends, not the day you remember

StageDue dateFiled or appealed onEmployer's answer due / received Informal Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Arbitration notice

Extensions agreed, in writing, to what date (date, new deadline, who signed for each side)

If the employer misses its deadline, what your clause says (deemed denied; clock from receipt; deemed granted)

Never wait past management's deadline without either moving the grievance up or getting an extension in writing. Many agreements start your clock to appeal on the day the answer was due, not the day it finally arrives.

6Keeping the member informed

Member told in writing where the grievance stands after each stage

Any decision to settle, drop or not arbitrate explained to the member in writing, with the date

Notes and decisions