What counts as a small grievance?

What may be presented as a grievance

The following prepared examples illustrate matters that may be presented and filed at the Desk of Grievances.

• The office mug marked DO NOT USE, used.
• A person who stops immediately upon entering a doorway.
• A parcel recorded as left in a safe place, which was neither.
• A meeting that could, on any reasonable view, have been an email.
• The last of the milk returned to the refrigerator in a quantity insufficient for tea.
• A reply of “as per my last message”, received in respect of a message that said no such thing.
• Three separate people asking whether you have a minute for a quick question.

Where the boundary falls

The Department is constituted for ordinary matters of limited consequence. It has no jurisdiction over serious harm, danger, abuse or crisis, and it does not pretend otherwise. Where a submission discloses such a matter, the ceremony is stopped and the claimant is directed towards proper sources of support.

The Department also declines matters presented in order to threaten, harass, expose or humiliate another person. A grievance concerns a circumstance endured. It is not an instrument for naming an individual.

Choosing the correct desk

Grievances are received at the Desk of Grievances. A kindness observed belongs instead at the Desk of Commendations. Conduct endured in a shared or public setting belongs at the Desk of Public Conduct. Anything that does not sit plainly within those desks may be presented to General Enquiries, and the Department will classify it.

Where review determines that a matter belongs at another desk, it may be routed there before the record is issued. A claimant is never penalised for approaching the wrong desk.