Grievance Procedure Paper
Process for Dealing with *Grievances Against Leaders (and other figures of authority within YWAM) *Grievance – an official statement of complaint over something believed to be wrong, unjust or unfair. Begin with the concise overview, and for a more detailed explanation, click on each link provided or go directly to the full version from page 4. This document is mainly dealing with situations and conflicts where there is no evidence of criminal offence or activity. Where there is suspicion of serious criminal offence, we are obligated to contact the police. OVERVIEW STEPS TO TAKE IN DEALING WITH GRIEVANCES AGAINST LEADERS CONTEXT STEP 1 When someone has a grievance against another person, they should go and share their concern as Matthew 18 encourages. If your concerns are not heard, Matthew 18 advises taking a friend with you as a follow-up to help in the dialogue. This may be difficult because of differences in position and influence, but it should be attempted to keep the issue and situation as low key and relational as possible. We expect that most cases will be resolved here in step 1 and kept in the local situation. STEP 2 If a resolution hasn’t been successful in step 1, a simple mediation process is encouraged with an impartial mediator bringing together the two parties. The mediator or mediators should be people who are agreed upon by both sides, and could be elders, not necessarily in line leadership, who have some understanding of mediation. This will enable both parties to share 1