Grievance Escalation

Escalation transfers a grievance to a higher level of responsibility when the agent cannot resolve it alone or when deadlines are exceeded.

Levels

Level	Name	Default delay	Notified role
0	Agent		assigned agent
1	Component coordinator	3 days	coordinator of the grievance's component: Education (Education Coordinator), Health (Health Coordinator) or Social protection (Cash Transfer Specialist); failing that, the national coordinator
2	National coordinator	5 days	national coordinator (National Coordinator)

These two tiers match the SLA digest reminders (component coordinator from 3 days late, national coordinator from 5 days). A configured level can designate “the coordinator of the grievance's component” (Education, Health or Social protection): it is resolved at escalation time from the grievance's module.

A grievance's escalation level is shown on its record and in the History.

Levels per phase

Settings → Workflow & SLA → Phases & Escalation lets you define, for each phase of a workflow, escalation levels (name, delay in hours, responsible role, e-mail or SMS notification). Automatic escalation applies them when the current phase has some; otherwise it falls back to the default levels. Manual escalation from the record follows the same levels: those of the current phase if any, otherwise the two default tiers.

Manual escalation

From the record, Escalate button (tooltip “Transfer to the upper level”).

Who may escalate: the agent assigned to the grievance, a supervisor or an administrator. A resolved, not-eligible or closed grievance cannot be escalated.

1. The dialog shows the current level and the next one, with its delay.
2. Enter the escalation reason (required).
3. Confirm escalation.

The level goes up by one, an e-mail “[ESCALADE] Plainte … - Niveau n - Action requise” goes to the role of the level reached, the assigned agent is informed, and the escalation is recorded in the history with its reason. At the top level the button says “Maximum escalation level reached”.

There is no “de-escalation”: the level never goes down. An escalated grievance stays assigned to its agent until a reassignment.

Automatic escalation

The scheduled command app:plaintes:escalade runs every two hours on the server. For each open or in-progress grievance whose applicable SLA policy due date is exceeded, the target level is determined:

• by the levels configured on the current phase of the workflow, when there are any: each level is reached when the delay exceeds its duration in hours;
• otherwise by multiples of the policy's Auto-escalation delay: 1× the delay → Component coordinator, 2× → National coordinator; for sensitive cases, the delay is halved.

If the target level is above the current one, the grievance is escalated and the role of the level reached is notified by e-mail.

The command accepts --dry-run to simulate without applying.

Monitoring

• Overdue grievances only filter in the list.
• Overdue counter in My Assignments.
• Grievances tab of Reports: deadlines and SLA compliance.
• Each grievance's history: date, author, starting and reached levels, reason.

Sensitive cases

A SEA/SH grievance escalates with the same buttons and faster automatic thresholds. Coordination notifications (PCH, World Bank) do not go through escalation but through the dedicated actions of the Sensitive grievances page.

Good practice

• Escalate early, with a precise reason: what you tried, what blocks, what you expect from the upper level.
• A supervisor receiving an escalation answers in the record (comment) or reassigns the grievance, then lets it follow its workflow.