Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
Purpose
To provide a procedure for managing
grievances of administrative employees.
(B)
Policy
It is the policy of Ohio university to
provide reasonable grievance procedures for administrators to appeal
involuntary terminations with cause, and disciplinary actions equal to a
suspension of greater than three days, and an involuntary demotion. Any
employee whose grievance involves alleged discrimination will be directed to
the office of equity and civil rights compliance per Ohio university policy
40.001. Performance evaluations, salary disputes, disputes concerning working
conditions and employment separations due to a reduction in force in accordance
with policy 41.013 are not grievable. Employment separations for employees
holding intermittent, special, research and term appointments are not
grievable.
(C)
Procedure
An individual who feels that a
grievance exists shall be responsible for stating, in writing, using the Ohio
university administrative employee grievance form the grounds upon which the
alleged grievance is based. The burden of proof rests upon the grievant. All
time limits in this policy refer to workdays.
(1)
The grievant must
file the grievance with said employee's immediate supervisor within ten
workdays of the occurrence or within ten workdays of when said employee had or
should have had knowledge of the occurrence which led to the grievance. The
immediate supervisor must respond to the grievance in writing within seven
workdays.
(2)
If the grievant is not satisfied with the response,
said employee may appeal within seven workdays to the chair of the
administrative senate. Within fourteen workdays, the chair shall appoint an ad
hoc committee (grievance review committee) of the administrative senate of at
least three administrators, none of whom shall be employed in the grievant's
department. The committee will review the complete record. The committee will
meet with the grievant to discuss the committee's authority and the process for
reviewing the grievance. If at any time the grievant is exploring other avenues
of settlement, the committee's process will be stayed until those avenue of
settlement are complete. If pursuing other avenues of settlement takes more
than sixty workdays, the grievant must re-initiate the grievance process. The
committee will notify the employee, the employee's planning unit head, and the
chair of the administrative senate of its recommendation within thirty workdays
of receiving the grievance. The planning unit head will have seven workdays to
accept, reject, or modify the committee's recommendation and will notify the
employee of the decision in writing. The written decision of the planning unit
head will also be given to the chair of the administrative senate (who will
relay the decision to the grievance review committee) and the director of
university human resources. The decision of the planning unit head is final and
binding upon the grievant and the department.
(3)
The time limits
specified in the procedure may be extended only by mutual written agreement of
the parties concerned.
(4)
All meetings shall be conducted in executive
session.
(5)
The grievant may withdraw from the grievance process at
any time without penalty; the grievant must notify the chair of administrative
senate in writing. The chair of administrative senate will notify the grievance
review committee and request from the committee a summary of its work to date.
All records related to the grievance will be retained by administrative
senate.
(D)
Guidelines for administrative senate grievance review
committees
These guidelines are to be held by the
administrative senate chair and distributed to grievance review committees each
time they are appointed.
(1)
Review procedure number 41.011 in the Ohio universities
policies and procedures manual for guidance, giving special attention to the
established time limits.
(2)
Meet to review all the documentation, case history and
information received from the chair of the administrative senate. Decide which
individuals connected with the grievance that the committee may want to contact
to collect documents from an/or interview. Notify these individuals to discuss
their potential involvement in the process.
(3)
Meet with the
grievant to review the process and to discuss the grievant's expectations. Make
certain that the grievant understands that the committee is an advisory body to
the administrative senate, and it will only be making a recommendation on the
merits of grievance, not a final enforceable decision. Review with the grievant
the documentation the committee currently has and suggest that the grievant
submit additional information if they choose. Also advise the grievant that the
committee has the authority in doing its investigation to request documentation
from other sources such as human resources, supervisors, and coworkers, and
that individuals connected with the matter may be interviewed by the committee.
Advise the grievant that if the grievant wishes the committee to review medical
or psychological information, the grievant must sign a release; otherwise, this
information will not be made available to the committee.
(4)
Conduct and
investigation through interviews and the collection of documents as deemed
necessary by the committee. Make a written record of the investigation, being
aware that this will be considered a public record and subject to disclosure
upon request. Keep any medical or psychological information gathered in a
separate file, since this cannot be disclosed by the committee on a public
records request unless the grievant signs a release allowing the committee to
disclose it.
(5)
If the grievant or any individual to be interviewed
requests to have legal counsel present, advise them of the following:
(a)
This is an
informal process that will generate only a recommendation as to the merits of
the grievance. It is not a final enforceable decision.
(b)
It is not an
adversarial process, but merely a fact-finding interview and therefore the
committee does not allow advocates or attorneys to be present. Employee may
have a support person present; however, this person is no to advocate,
participate or engage in the process on behalf of the employee.
(c)
However, if the
individual wishes, the individual may bring a recording device to the
interview, as long as the individual provides the committee with a copy of the
tape if requested.
(6)
During the
interview process, be careful to focus on the specific issue(s) contained in
the grievance.
(7)
After completing the investigation, review all the
information collected and researched, and make a recommendation to the chair of
the administrative senate. Notify the grievant of the committee's
recommendation. Remind the chair of the administrative senate to notify the
grievance review committee about the disposition of their
recommendation.
(8)
Keep in mind that, barring stays, the grievance review
committee had thirty days to complete its deliberations.
