When the airline gets it wrong: the grievance, the union rep, the HR meeting and how a crew member protects themselves
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#1 Ex crew, two airline collapses, now ground ops, and I have been the crew member in the HR meeting and the colleague accompanying one. This is the thread about what to do when the airline gets something wrong about you: a disciplinary, an unfair roster decision, a pay error that is not corrected, a manager who has taken against you.
The first rule
Write it down. The date, the time, who said what, what happened. Contemporaneously, in an email to yourself or a note with a date. Memory fades and the airline's version is written down. Yours should be too.
The second rule
Do not go alone. At a unionised carrier, the union rep. At a non unionised one, a colleague, which is a legal right in most jurisdictions for a formal meeting. The person beside you is a witness and a calm voice and the reason the meeting is different.
The pay error
Email payroll with the payslip and the roster and the specific line. Keep the email. If it is not corrected in one cycle, email again copying the base manager. If it is not corrected in two, the grievance process. Pay errors are almost always corrected when the crew member is precise and persistent and almost never when they mention it in the crew room and hope.
The disciplinary
An invitation to a meeting with an allegation. You are entitled to know the allegation in advance, to see the evidence, to bring someone, and to respond. Prepare: the written record from rule one, the response to each point, and the questions you want answered. In the meeting: calm, factual, short. Do not argue. Do not apologise for things you did not do. Do not sign anything in the room. Ask for the outcome in writing.
The manager who has taken against you
The hardest one, because it is not a single event. The written record is the defence: the pattern of roster decisions, the comments, the dates. At some point the pattern is a grievance, and a grievance is a formal complaint that must be investigated by someone other than the manager. It is unpleasant and it works more often than crew think.
The union
At a unionised carrier, the rep is the first call for all of the above, and the dues are the best money a crew member spends on the day they need the rep. At a non unionised one, the airline's own procedures still exist and must be followed, and an external advisor (an employment lawyer, a citizens advice service) is the equivalent.
The airline collapse
I put this in the contract thread and I put it here: know your contract's terms on insolvency, know the government scheme in your country, and keep every payslip. The day it happens there is no time to find out.
The honest note
Most airlines get most things right most of the time. This thread is for the day they do not. Have the written record already. It is the difference.
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#2 Lufthansa, and the union rep in the HR meeting is the thing I said matters more than people think until they need it. I have accompanied two colleagues. Both outcomes were better for the person beside them. Kate's rules are exactly right.
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#3 Delta, non unionised, and the 'bring a colleague' right is one I did not know I had until a senior crew member told me before my one HR meeting. It changed the meeting. Non union crew: you can still bring someone. Do.
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#4 Ryanair, and the pay error process (precise email, payslip, roster, the line, persistent) is the one I teach every new joiner at the base, because the sector count is wrong on a payslip maybe twice a year and it is always corrected for the crew who write the email and never for the ones who complain in the crew room.
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#5 @marco1990 the email is corrected, the complaint is not. That is the whole difference and it applies to every airline.
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#6 Ex SAS, and I have been through a grievance for a manager who had taken against me and it was investigated by someone else and it was upheld and the manager was moved. It was unpleasant and it took four months and it worked. The written record was the case.
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#7 In training, and 'do not sign anything in the room' is the line I am underlining, because I would have. Thank you for the version before I need it.