GrieveRight is not a generic project tracker adapted for unions. It was designed from the ground up around the grievance process — filing, advancing, remanding, resolving, and everything in between. Here is everything the platform does.
The complete lifecycle, from intake to resolution.
Grievance workflows in GrieveRight are defined as directed graphs, not simple linear sequences. Each stage is a node. Transitions between stages are directed edges. This means your workflow can branch — for example, a Step 2 grievance might advance to Step 3 for a standard case, or directly to Arbitration for a discipline case. You define the paths that match your contract.
Every stage has a level (local or national), default deadlines, display ordering, and entry-point designation. The system enforces valid transitions — you can only advance a grievance to a stage that has a defined transition from the current stage. No shortcuts, no mistakes.
File a grievance under a specific contract and entry-point stage. The system automatically creates the first step record, assigns a handler (the filing steward), generates deadlines based on the stage's defaults, and grants visibility to appropriate users. Local-level filing is limited to stewards (rep role); national-level filing is limited to national staff (nat role) or stewards if no national users exist.
When a grievance needs to move to the next stage, the handler selects a valid target stage from the available transitions. The system creates a new step record with its own description, remedy sought, and contract articles. New deadlines are generated automatically. If the target stage is at the national level, the system records the escalation for federated visibility purposes.
A grievance can be remanded (sent back) to the previous stage in its actual step history. Unlike advancing, remanding always goes to the stage of the most recent prior step — it follows history, not the graph. The handler provides a reason for the remand, and a new step is created at the previous stage level. Visibility and handler assignments are updated automatically.
Grievances can be resolved as settled, denied, withdrawn, or closed, or placed in abeyance. Resolved grievances can be reopened within a configurable reactivation window (default 14 days). After that window, administrators can still reopen via admin override.
Don't want to build stages from scratch? GrieveRight ships with four workflow templates that cover the most common union grievance structures:
Informal Step A, Formal Step A, Step B, Arbitration with discipline branch from Step A directly to Arbitration.
Step 1 (local), Step 2 (local), Step 3 (national). Standard three-level process with national escalation.
All three steps at the local level. For unions without a national escalation tier or for solo stewards.
Minimal two-step process. Step 1 and Step 2 at local level. For quick, simple contracts.
For admins who want full control, the visual stage builder provides a two-column SVG layout where you can add stages, define transitions between them by connecting nodes, set deadline defaults, mark entry points, and assign stages to local or national levels. The builder enforces graph integrity — every stage must be reachable and every transition must be valid.
Every stage gets its own description, remedy, and contract articles.
When a grievance advances to a new stage, the content evolves. The description at Step 1 might focus on the facts, while Step 2 emphasizes the contractual arguments. GrieveRight tracks this with per-stage records — each step has its own description, remedy sought, and linked contract articles. The grievance-level fields are kept as a snapshot of the latest stage for quick reference, but the full history is preserved at every step.
Fact-finding before formal filing. A separate workflow for pre-grievance work.
Not every complaint becomes a formal grievance. Sometimes a steward needs to investigate first — gather the facts, interview witnesses, review the contract, and determine whether a violation actually occurred. GrieveRight's investigation workflow is built for this exact purpose.
Collect testimony digitally. No login required.
Stewards can send a structured intake form to grievants via a secure, tokenized link that works on any device. The grievant describes what happened, when it happened, and who was involved. They can attach supporting documents and photos directly from their phone.
The form is public and requires no login — just a valid token. Tokens expire after a configurable period (default 7 days) for security. Completed intake forms are linked to the investigation or grievance and included in PDF exports.
Stewards send witness statement requests via email with a secure link. Witnesses fill out a structured form including their name, position, department, location, relationship to the incident, date observed, and a full written statement. Witnesses can also provide contact info (email, phone, employee ID) and attach files.
Like intake forms, witness statements are tokenized and require no login. The steward tracks submission status, can resend requests, and revoke tokens. Completed statements generate downloadable PDFs and are included in case packages.
A steward's working journal for every case.
Every grievance and investigation has a digital logbook where stewards record their notes, observations, conversations with management, and strategy thoughts. This replaces the paper notebooks that stewards have traditionally carried — with the critical advantage that the logbook is tied to the case, not the person.
Entries can be edited for a configurable window (default 24 hours) and deleted within a shorter window (default 30 minutes). After that, entries are locked for evidentiary integrity.
Mark individual logbook entries as confidential. Confidential entries are only visible to the author and users who have been granted explicit cross-level access.
Logbook entries are included in grievance PDF exports and case packages. Entries are reorderable by the steward and maintain their order in exports.
Keep all communication tied to the case.
Every grievance has its own message thread. Stewards, other representatives with visibility, and national staff can communicate about a case in context — no separate email chains, no text messages that disappear, no "who said what when" confusion. Grievants can view messages through their portal (read-only) to stay informed.
Each grievance has its own message history
Handles long message histories efficiently
Email + in-app alerts for new messages
Only users with case access see messages
Draft stronger filings with AI that understands labor relations.
Most AI tools know general labor law. GrieveRight's AI assistant knows your contract. It works directly with your uploaded CBAs, MOUs, and agreements to suggest the specific articles, language, and remedies that apply to your case.
Never miss another contractual deadline.
Contractual deadlines are one of the most common reasons grievances are lost. GrieveRight creates deadlines automatically whenever a grievance is filed or advanced, based on the stage configuration. Stewards receive warning notifications 3 days before due dates. Deadlines can be extended with a reason, waived by agreement, or marked complete.
Generated from stage defaults on file/advance
Email notifications 3 days before due
Extend with reason and new due date
Waive by mutual agreement with notes
Formal information requests with tracking and export.
RFIs are a critical part of the grievance process. Stewards need to request specific documents, data, and explanations from management. GrieveRight provides a structured RFI system where stewards create requests, track their status, add response notes, generate formal PDFs and DOCX documents, and email them directly to management — all from within the grievance.
Self-service access for union members with active grievances.
Union members (grievants) deserve to know what's happening with their cases. The grievant portal gives members a read-only view of their own grievances — status, timeline, documents, and messages. They can see where their case stands, what stage it's at, and what deadlines are coming up, without needing to call their steward for an update.
Upload, organize, preview, and export case documents.
Drag-and-drop upload with progress tracking. Up to 1,000 files per grievance, 1 GB per file, 2 GB total. Reorderable with drag handles. Add notes to each document.
In-browser preview for images and PDFs. Download individual files or everything as a ZIP archive. Bulk downloads include all documents, organized by case.
Every file encrypted at rest with per-union encryption keys. Mark documents as confidential for restricted access. Integrity verification on every download.
Your contracts, MOUs, and agreements — indexed, searchable, and at everyone's fingertips.
Too often, the contract language a steward needs is buried in a PDF on someone else's computer or in a binder back at the union hall. GrieveRight's knowledge base puts your most important documents where they belong — instantly accessible to every rep who needs them, from any device.
Configure the system to match your contract structure exactly.
Unions can have multiple active contracts (e.g., a Main CBA and a supplemental IT/ASC agreement). Each contract has its own articles, workflow stages, transitions, deadline defaults, custom fields, and holiday calendar. When filing a grievance, the steward selects the applicable contract, and the system configures the available stages and fields accordingly.
Every union has different data requirements. GrieveRight supports custom grievance fields defined at the contract level — text inputs, dropdowns, date fields, checkboxes, and more. These fields appear on the grievance form and are stored as structured JSON. Common uses include craft tracking, facility codes, management representatives, and contract-specific categories.
Group related cases under a single lead grievance.
When a contract violation affects multiple employees, stewards can convert individual grievances into a class action. One grievance becomes the lead case, and related individual cases are linked as child grievances. The class action tracks as a single unit through the workflow while preserving the individual case records for each affected employee.
CSV exports, PDF generation, and storage analytics.
Export filtered grievance lists to CSV for spreadsheet analysis. Filter by status, stage, steward, date range, and more.
Generate complete grievance PDFs including timeline, documents, logbook, and case packages as ZIP archives.
See storage usage by document type, top uploaders, and stale investigations for cleanup. Quota tracking by plan tier.
TOTP, SMS, email — with union-wide enforcement.
GrieveRight supports three 2FA methods: authenticator apps (TOTP), SMS codes via Twilio, and email verification. Union administrators can enforce 2FA for all users across the organization. Recovery codes provide backup access. Trusted devices can be remembered for 30 days. Maximum 5 failed attempts before lockout with a 10-minute session timeout for verification.
On the workroom floor, in the break room, or at home.
Stewards don't do their work at a desk. They're on the workroom floor when a member approaches with a complaint. They're in the break room taking notes after a meeting with management. They're at home drafting grievance language after their shift. GrieveRight is available wherever they are.
Phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. No app to install, no special software required. If it has a browser, it runs GrieveRight.
Every page is designed for mobile first, then scaled up for larger screens. Forms, tables, dashboards — all work at any size.
Cloud-hosted and accessible from anywhere. No corporate network, no VPN client, no IT department involved.
Take a photo of a document, a posted notice, or a worksite condition and upload it directly to a case from your phone's camera.
Start your 30-day free trial and experience every feature listed above. No credit card required for local unions. Full access from day one.