Resolution in support of Employee Forum recommended changes to the SPA Grievance Policy
at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Resolution of the Employee Forum
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
June 2, 2010
1. WHEREAS, the Mission of the Employee Forum is to constructively address the concerns of the Employees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including the presentation of staff concerns to University officials, University General Administration and the citizenry of North Carolina, and;
2. WHEREAS, the Employee Forum welcomes and appreciates the opportunity to represent staff perspectives in discussions with OHR staff on campus policies, including revisions and proposed revisions to EPA-NF and SPA grievance policies, and;
3. WHEREAS, the Staff Relations, Policy and Practices (SRPP) committee has discussed grievance policy with grievants, support persons, panelists, delegates and staff and requested comments from delegates at monthly meetings and through the Employee Forum’s listserv and;
4. WHEREAS, the SRPP forwarded recommendations for revisions to the SPA Grievance Policy to the Forum for further review and to the Office of Human Resources for their consideration in developing recommended revisions, and;
5. WHEREAS, though most of the OHR recommended changes are acceptable, the SRPP views four items as having a net negative effect on the policy as a whole, including;
- Removal of the right to grieve “unfair treatment by management” as well as “any other work-related problem of concern to the employee that can be addressed by the University.”
- Removal of “stopping the clock” when mediation is used, leaving it up to the Grievance Coordinator to extend deadlines as they deem necessary and appropriate.
- Reduction in hours of leave for the Grievant to work on their grievance, from 12 to 8 hours.
6. WHEREAS, the SRPP recommends the following changes in the proposed revisions;
- The right to grieve “unfair treatment by management” remains in the policy. The HR proposal to “write a ‘note-to-file'” is hugely different from successfully grieving unfair treatment and having a panel making recommendations to redress the situation.
- The “stopping the clock” when mediation is used remains an option. Without this option, a grievant may have to push for a very speedy resolution through mediation if they wanted to pursue this option; otherwise they could run out of time on their grievance.
- The hours of leave for the Grievant to work remains at 12 hours. The SRPP heard support persons and grievants can spend as much as 50 hours working on a grievance with most time spent outside of the normal work day.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Employee Forum strongly opposes the following proposed changes to the SPA Grievance Policy:
- Removal of the right to grieve “unfair treatment by management” as well as “any other work-related problem of concern to the employee that can be addressed by the University.”
- Removal of “stopping the clock” when mediation is used.
- Reduction in hours of leave for the Grievant to work on their grievance, from 12 to 8 hours.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Employee Forum supports the OHR proposed changes to the SPA Grievance policy with the following modifications:
- The right to grieve “unfair treatment by management” remains in the policy.
- The “stopping the clock” when mediation is used remains an option.
- The hours of leave for the Grievant to work remains at 12 hours
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Employee Forum asks that the Chancellor and his designees support the precepts of this resolution and recommend these changes to the proposed policy or provide explanation for not including these changes.
Signed on behalf of the Delegates of the Employee Forum,
Jacqueline Overton, Chair