Hi, L. Sorry you didn't get a response sooner.

I've not heard of the IWU before, but I've worked on both sides of the union table with a variety of different unions. You first step should be to validate with the employee that they are, indeed, a member of the union and wish to be represented by the union in this matter.

Although rare, there have been cases of union reps jumping the gun on things and rushing in with a grievance or claim without the employee having actually authorised them to do so.

Once you've established that the employee is happy to be represented by the union, I suggest treating them much like you would treat an employee's designated employee representative. They get copied on correspondence, invited to meetings and given the opportunity to speak at hearings so long as they are speaking on behalf of their member.

The union will ask for stuff like sight of your policies etc. Make sure to copy the employee on anything you send the union rep related to the case (or, better still, send it to the employee and copy the union!).

Scheduling hearings becomes slightly trickier as union officers have busy schedules. But Talon v Smith established a test of reasonableness, so any delay to accommodate an employee's choice of representative must be reasonable. Generally delays of up to ten days and a maximum of two postponements are considered reasonable, but based on the individual case, you may determine that shorter or fewer or, indeed, longer and more are appropriate and reasonable. The key thing is to keep a written record of the assessment and reasons for any decision.