Employee grievance is the perception of unfair treatment on the job. There are many factors that make employees unhappy. For instance, non cooperation from fellow members or a harsh remark relating to domestic affairs, may create unhappy situation at work. Finally such feelings of dissatisfaction or discontent result in employee grievance. There is hardly an organization that runs smoothly at all times.
In most of the organizations, employees have complaint against their employers which is termed as employee grievance. Hence, a complaint affecting one or more employees at a time does constitute a grievance. The complaint may be related to wages, working hours or conditions of employment. The dissatisfaction which is expressed by an employee is regarded as a complaint. When the complaint is filed and brought to the notice of management, it will then be grievance. Hence, employee grievance is resulted from the perception of unfair treatment and differences in employee's expectations and managerial practices. A well defined grievance procedure is an important constitute of employee relation as it provides a medium for the transmission of complaints to the table of management.
Therefore, employee grievance is a formal complaint affecting one or more individuals at a time with respect to wages, working hours, condition of work environment, transfers, promotion and so on and formally informed to the management.