Complaints Process

This policy outlines the process for submitting formal complaints regarding a member of The Norwich Radical team. The current version of the policy was ratified by the Editorial Team on June 25th 2020.

This policy can apply to actions both taken within an individual’s dealings as a member of The Norwich Radical team and further afield — on social media and in wider situations. While diversity of opinion and discussion around issues are valued, this should never supersede the values of safety, inclusivity and professionalism.

The following people may be subject to the complaints policy:

Members of The Norwich Radical Editorial Team
Members of The Norwich Radical regular contributors team.

This policy seeks to deal with matters related to the conduct, behaviours and actions of members of The Norwich Radical team. The policy does not seek to address questions of the effectiveness of any member of the team’s work outputs, which are handled directly by the Editorial Team.

Complaints Procedure:

A formal complaint may be made to any member of the Editorial Team. The formal complaint shall be made in written form, outlining the individual about whom the complaint relates and the offense it is alleged they have committed, as well as written testimony as to the nature of the alleged offense. The recipient of the complaint has a duty to make a record of the complaint for future reference, such as a screenshot or a document with the complaint pasted in. Records should be stored in a location that is not accessible to the subject of the complaint until the complaint has been processed.

On receipt of the complaint, the relevant Editor shall respond to the complainant within 7 working days, informing them of how the complaint will be addressed. The following actions may then be taken by the recipient of the complaint:

Assembling a panel made up of the recipient of the complaint, at least one Co-Editor and at least one other Editorial Team member to conduct an investigation into the complaint. The panel will ensure that they allow space for both the complainant and the individual being complained about to produce evidence and testimony relating to the complaint. Should an investigation be launched, the individual alleged of committing the offense will be suspended from their position within The Norwich Radical team.
Request that the parties involved enter a process of informal mediation with a member of the Editorial Team.
Conclude that there is not sufficient evidence for the matter to be taken further.

A complaint may be about any number of the following list of inappropriate actions. This list is not exhaustive:

A violation of the agreed conduct policy.
Instances of bullying, harassment or other forms of abusive behaviour.

The panel reserves the right to take the following actions in relation to a complaint levelled against a member of The Norwich Radical team. The panel may take more than one of these actions:

Informal, verbal warnings
Formal warnings
Requiring the individual to make a formal, written apology to the complainant. The text of the apology shall be approved by the panel.
Requiring the complainant and the individual about whom the complaint relates to enter into a process
Suspending the individual from The Norwich Radical team.
Permanently removing the individual from The Norwich Radical team.

Appeals

If an individual is not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, they may request an appeal. An appeal must be made in writing within 3 working days of receiving the outcome of the complaint to a member of the Editorial Team. The appeal request will outline the specific grounds on which they wish to make an appeal. This may consist of, but will not be limited to:

Evidence not being taken into account
The outcome being too severe, or not severe enough.
Unfair prejudices of members of the panel or the recipient of the complaint.

The recipient of the appeal request will conduct an investigation into whether the grounds are legitimate. They may choose to assemble an appeals panel (which cannot include any member of the complaints panel) in order to conduct this investigation and to cast judgement on the matter.

An appeals panel may take the following actions: