No discussion. Tina Vickery Representative at Large ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherri" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 6:18 AM Subject: [BOARD] MOTION 2009/10-23 - Augmentation of the Grievance Procedures Presented by Larry Flesher and seconded by Ann Allen Geoghegan and dated 19 April 2010, the motion reads: The grievance process begins when the grievance is filed with the Grievance Committee. Once received by the Grievance Committee Chair, a notice will be submitted to the Advisory Board and posted on the EXEC list that includes the names of all parties involved and a short (5-10 words max) description of the violation. This will serve as the Advisory Board's cue to cease and desist any involvement until and unless the grievance resolution is appealed. The grievance confidentiality begins when the grievance is filed with the Grievance Committee. The party filing the grievance must acknowledge AT THE TIME OF FILING that they understand and agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process. All other parties must acknowledge AT THE TIME OF NOTIFICATION that a grievance has been filed that they understand and agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process. Grievance confidentiality extends to all parties (including the mediators, arbitrators and GC members) from the time the grievance process begins. Failure by one of the parties to agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process is grounds to automatically and immediately lose the grievance. The consequences for breaking the confidentiality of the grievance process will be: . If the grievance team determines one of the parties to the grievance has broken confidentiality, that party automatically and immediately loses the grievance with no option to re-file. . A general statement such as "I've filed a grievance and cannot discuss it" in answer to a question is not considered a breach. . If the confidentiality is breached by someone outside of the parties involved, the parties involved should not be penalized. . If the confidentiality is broken by the mediator, an arbitrator or the GC representative to the mediation/arbitration portion of the grievance, the grievance gets reassigned to give the parties involved another chance to get the issue resolved. . Consequences for breaching the confidentiality of the grievance process by someone outside of the grievance will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Advisory Board that may include a disciplinary hearing and penalties applied based on the results of the findings. Specifically, the following modifications to the Standing Rules will be made: Section V of the Standing Rules, item E, number 1 will be modified to read: The grievance process begins when a complaint is made by any of the following: (Items a-c remain unchanged.) In addition, the following will be added as a separate item after the last paragraph of number 1. "The grievance confidentiality begins when the grievance is filed with the Grievance Committee and extends to all parties (including the mediators, arbitrators and GC members) from the time the grievance process begins. Item E, number 2 will be modified to read: The initial complaint should be brought to the Grievance Coordinator, and must include the following information: (Items a-f remain unchanged.) Item g will be added, which will state "An acknowledgement that the member understands that the confidentiality of the grievance process begins when the complaint is filed and that they agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process." Item E, the first paragraph of subsection number 4 will be modified to read: "Upon receiving the initial complaint, the Grievance Coordinator will assign it a number, and appoint one of the permanent committee members to review the complaint to determine whether it meets the requirements outlined in subsection C of this Section. At the same time, the Grievance Committee Chair will send a notice to the Advisory Board and to be posted on the BOARD-EXEC mail list that includes the names of all parties involved and a short (5-10 word max) description of the violation. This will serve as the Advisory Board's cue to cease and desist any involvement until and unless the grievance resolution is appealed." The second paragraph of subsection 4 will be modified to read: "The review of the complaint will result in an "accept" or "reject" determination from the Committee Member assigned. The review at this level should assume that the facts stated in the complaint are true, and the determination of the viability of the grievance made based upon a review of the by-laws, policies, or procedures alleged to have been violated. The recommendation and the reasons therefore, shall be provided to the Grievance Committee as a whole, and voted upon." The fourth paragraph of subsection 4 will be modified to read: "If accepted as a viable grievance, the parties shall be so informed. The parties must acknowledge at the time of notification that a grievance has been filed and that they understand and agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process. Failure to agree to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process is grounds to automatically and immediately lose the grievance. A Committee Member, volunteer mediator and two volunteer arbitrators will be assigned. The parties to the grievance, the Committee Member, mediator, and arbitrators will then be subscribed to a private email list." The first paragraph of subsection 6 will be modified to read: " When the team is seated, the parties shall be so advised by the Mediator. Everyone will be reminded that the grievance confidentiality extends to all parties (including the mediators, arbitrators and GC members) from the time the grievance process begins and that failure to abide by the confidentiality of the grievance process is grounds to automatically and immediately lose the grievance. The parties shall have seventy-two (72) hours to submit to the Mediator a written statement of their position on the issues of the dispute. The mediator shall provide the position statements to the team members for their review." The current subsection 9 will be renumbered to subsection 10. The following subsection will be inserted between the current section 8 and the former subsection 9 (newly renumbered to section 10) and will be numbered as subsection 9: The consequences for breaking the confidentiality of the grievance process will be: . If the grievance team determines one of the parties to the grievance has broken the confidentiality, that party automatically and immediately loses the grievance with no option to re-file. . A general statement such as "I've filed a grievance and cannot discuss it" in answer to a question is not considered a breach. . If the confidentiality is breached by someone outside of the parties involved, the parties involved should not be penalized, unless it is evident that a party to the grievance is intentionally feeding information, after the grievance process began, to the one that broke the confidentiality. . If the confidentiality is broken by the mediator, an arbitrator or the GC representative in the mediation/arbitration portion of the grievance, the grievance gets reassigned to give the parties involved another chance to get the issue resolved. Consequences for the GC representative are referenced in Section V of the Standard Rules, Subsection A, under the "Qualifications" item. (Link to the section above.) b. Consequences for breaching the confidentiality of the grievance process by someone outside of the grievance will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Advisory Board that may include a disciplinary hearing and penalties applied based on the results of the findings. . Consequences for breaching the confidentiality of the grievance process by someone outside of the grievance will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Advisory Board that may include a disciplinary hearing and penalties applied based on the results of the findings. Discussion is now open. If you have no discussion, please indicate by stating "No Discussion". Sherri Bradley National Coordinator USGenWeb Project Information about the USGenWeb Project at http://usgenweb.org Advisory Board Agenda http://usgenweb.org/agenda2.php USGenWeb Advisory Board Agenda: http://usgenweb.org/agenda2.shtml ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message