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FAQs
Please read these commonly asked questions and answers about UIS
grievance policies:
What is this thing labeled Grievance Procedure?
What
different ways of problem solving does this procedure
offer?
What is an Ombudsperson (Ombuds) and what does he do?
Who can use these procedures?
What kinds of problems can be submitted as grievances?
Who are the facilitators and decision makers?
What good will it do to use one of these processes?
How confidential and private are these processes?
What kinds of records does the Ombuds Office keep and what kinds of
reports does it make to the Chancellor and/or VCAA and
administration?
Is the Chancellor bound by the agreements or decisions that come out
of these processes?
What is a grievance and does it need to be in writing?
Does the other person need to know who complained?
What are the limits on subsequent judicial proceedings?
How is an Ombudsperson like or not like a Counselor?
Will these procedures resolve the conflict so that everything goes
back to the way it was before?
Does a Grievant have to go through the grievance process all alone
or is a representative allowed?
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Q. What is this thing labeled Grievance
Procedure?
A. The
Grievance Procedure is:
 a way for
faculty and academic professionals (hereinafter APs) to try to
resolve work related problems.
set up to
encourage problem resolution as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
structured with
all parts connected yet independent.
supported on a
procedural superstructure that uses an Ombudsperson (Ombuds), with
an AP assistant as its base.
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Q. What different ways of problem
solving does this procedure offer?
A. The
problem resolution processes available through this process are:
Informal
Resolution: The Ombuds, acting as an intermediary, makes an
effort to help resolve the matter.
Mediation:
An impartial person, chosen to be the Mediator, tries to help the
people with a dispute figure out a way to resolve it so that they
can continue to work together in the future.
Advisory
Hearing: The person with a complaint and the person against whom
the complaint has been made give summary presentations of their best
cases before a jointly selected impartial Hearing Officer who, after
hearing all of the arguments, issues an Advisory Recommendation that
can be used as a basis for a negotiated settlement.
Formal
Hearing: The person with a complaint and the person against whom
the complaint has been made present their respective cases in a
semi-formal hearing-like proceeding before a decision making panel
of either faculty members or AP personnel, depending on the
procedure being used. The Formal Hearing is run by an external
neutral Hearing Officer who can ensure that the process is
evenhandedly run and that the resulting decision is based on the
information produced at the hearing.
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Q. What is an Ombudsperson and what does he
do?
A. The
Ombudsperson (Ombuds):
talks with
faculty and APs who may have work related problems they need to
resolve;
resolves
problems as an intermediary;
makes the
procedures for the different processes work;
keeps track of
time limits, and responses, and records;
keeps lists of
persons available to serve as mediators and help select them;
makes and
maintains lists of Hearing Officers and handle their appointment;
creates and
maintains forms and informational materials, including the web site;
runs the Ombuds
Office as a service center to assist Faculty and APs in problem
solving.
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Q. Who can use these procedures?
A. All full
time, tenure track or tenured faculty at UIS can use the Faculty
Procedure. All Academic Professional Staff except those with hourly
or less than 50% of full time appointments can use the AP Procedure.
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Q. What kind of problems can be submitted as
grievances?
A. The
procedures may be used for any individual or group grievances
against any University administrative person or department or
faculty or AP.
Problems
relating to students or specifically focused against a particular
student need to be resolved through the student grievance
procedures. There are specific topics which may not be subjects of
grievances. These topics differ for APs and faculty and are spelled
out in their respective grievance procedures. Generally, all matters
may be resolved through these procedures except for problems
relating to matters that the University is statutorily required to
do or which relate to resource allocation decisions, or which relate
to promotion or non-
reappointment.
APs may not grieve questions relating to employee job evaluations.
Allegations of discrimination may be handled through these
procedures or may be referred to the UIS Office of Access and Equal
Opportunity. However, any complaint or grievance alleging sexual
harassment brought under these procedures must also be reported to
the UIS Office of Access and Equal Opportunity.
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Q. Who are the facilitators and decision
makers?
1. Who
are the Mediators, where do they come from and how are they
chosen?
Mediators
are either Academic Professionals or Faculty members who are not
otherwise involved in the specific grievance at issue, who are
chosen and agreed upon by the parties to the dispute, and who
meet the qualification requirements set forth in the procedures
themselves.
2. Who
are the Hearing Officers, where do they come from and how
are they chosen?
The
Hearing Officers are persons external to UIS who regularly serve
as independent contractors for such purposes. They are listed
on either the State of Illinois or national panels of labor
arbitrators and are selected by the Ombuds.
3. What
is a Hearing Panel, who can serve on it and how is it
chosen?
A hearing
panel is a group of individuals, either Academic Professionals
or Faculty, of the same status as the individual asking for the
Formal Hearing or the Advisory Hearing. These persons are chosen
by the Provost, Senate President and FAC Chairperson from a list
of acceptable individuals who meet the qualifications set forth
in the grievance procedures. They serve overlapping three year
terms.
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Q. What good will it do to use one of these
processes?
A. Rather
than stewing, fighting or suing, using these Grievant Procedures:
Costs less time,
less money and is less ulcer producing;
Allows greater
remedy possibilities;
Keeps disputes
at the lowest level of adversarial relations possible;
Guarantees
non-retaliation;
Retains privacy
of the fact of a proceeding as well as who is charged with what;
Is much less
formal than external procedures.
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Q. How confidential and private are these
processes?
A. These
processes described here will be kept as private and confidential as
possible.
The less
formal, the more confidential the processes can be. People
necessary to the process -- mediators, hearing officers, panel
members, and so on -- have to know what is going on and what is
being asked of them. Everyone involved will be asked to agree that
the matter will be kept confidential and that the privacy of those
involved will be maintained. This is not a guarantee that
confidentiality and privacy will be maintained, but it is a promise
that the Ombuds Office and others involved in the administration of
the grievance procedures will make every effort to keep the fact of
grievances and the grievance processing private and confidential.
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Q. What kinds of records does the Ombuds
Office keep and what kinds of reports does it make to the Chancellor
and/or VCAA and administration?
A. No
formal records will be kept of any proceedings except the Formal
Hearing.
When a matter
has been successfully completed -- be it resolved, withdrawn, moved
to another procedure, decided and ordered, or concluded in some
other way -- records will be maintained to ensure the enforcement of
the final agreement or order and to keep track of the number and
type of matters handled by the Ombuds Office in any given time
period.
The records
maintained by the Ombuds Office will not relate in any way to, nor
will they be available to any persons involved with, any personnel
file or proceeding except as may be directed by a court of law
pursuant to formal process.
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Q. Is the Chancellor bound by the agreements
or decisions that come out of these processes?
A. Yes.
According to
the procedures, the Chancellor and the University are bound by any
agreement or resolution of a problem that is developed and agreed
upon under these procedures with the exception of the decision of
the Hearing Panel under the Formal Hearing Procedure. According to
the rules, the Chancellor may, for good cause, refuse to go along
with the decision of the Formal Hearing panel, as long as he states
his reasons in writing, within at least 20 days from the date the
hearing panel issues its decision. The Chancellor also has the right
to amend or do further investigation or change the remedies or even
ask for further hearing proceedings if he wants.
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Q. What is a grievance and does it need to be
in writing?
A. The
grievance is the written statement of the problem including a
statement of what is the desired remedy or resolution.
In order to
use any process beyond the Informal Resolution procedure, a written
statement of grievance is required. This written statement becomes
the basis for all subsequent grievance resolution processes under
these procedures. It provides notice of the existence of a problem,
the nature of that problem and the outer guidelines within which to
work out a resolution to the persons being complained about. If an
issue is not identified in the grievance it is hard for it to be
resolved in these processes.
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Q. Does the other person need to know who
complained?
A. Yes.
The price for
grieving, stating that there is a problem and trying to get it
resolved, is identification. Just as one must identify the problem
and the persons who are contributing to it in order to start to work
to make things better, the persons so labeled have a right to defend
themselves and to present their point of view. This cannot be done
without knowing who has made the complaint. This lack of anonymity
means that people can only complain about things they know
definitely and which affect them directly.
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Q. What are the limits on subsequent judicial
proceedings?
A. There
are no limits on subsequent judicial proceedings.
Because the
grievance procedures are voluntary, there is no requirement that
anyone exhaust these procedures before filing a law suit in court.
In fact, there is no requirement that any given procedure precede
any other procedure or that starting one means that the matter
cannot be withdrawn and a different procedure used instead. Any
information or material gained through the course of the proceeding
may be used in subsequent proceedings, if necessary. However, part
of the papers filed to initiate the grievance procedure includes an
agreement that the Ombuds and the neutrals who act as facilitators
or hearing officers or hearing panel members are not subject to
subpoena and cannot be made to divulge information in a subsequent
judicial proceeding.
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Q. How is an Ombudsperson like or not like a
Counselor?
A. An
Ombudsperson (Ombuds) is a special Human Resource person.
He is the
expert on the grievance procedure processing. He runs the office and
makes it all go smoothly. There are three points in the grievance
process where the Ombuds acts somewhat like a counselor:
1. When
someone initially comes to say there is a problem, the Ombuds
helps separate out the different aspects of the problem, helps
identify the important issues and state them in a way that they
can be addressed in the grievance procedure processes;
2. When
someone is in the midst of pursuing any specific grievance
procedure the Ombudsman can help individuals understand what is
happening, their roles and their procedural options; and
3. When
someone asks to try to solve the problem through Informal
Resolution procedures, the Ombuds, serving as a go-between to
try to come up with a workable solution, may make suggestions as
to possible ways to resolve the situation and may help
individuals relate to what is possible, probable or achievable
at that time through that process.
The Ombuds
is not available for personal, psychological, career or
workplace counseling or anything resembling therapy, and cannot
make official recommendations as to what is the best course of
action in any given situation except as part of the Informal
Resolution procedure. The Ombuds is not a final arbiter or
decision maker and is not party to any resolution achieved
through the grievance processes. The Ombuds is a facilitator in
the best sense of the word.
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Q. Will these procedures resolve the conflict
so that everything is back to the way it was before?
A. No.
None of the
grievance procedures are designed to recreate the status quo. At
best the outcome will be to have a workable procedure that everyone
can agree upon to use in the future. The goal of these procedures is
problem solving for the future not resolution of underlying past
conflicts.
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Q. Does a Grievant have to go through the
grievance process all alone or is a representative allowed?
A. Any
person can have a friend or representative with them at any of the
meetings or sessions identified in these procedures.
However, only
in the procedures that include hearings will the representative be
allowed to speak and participate in the proceeding. If an individual
is worried about their rights or possible retribution or
retaliation, the Ombuds should be notified and steps taken to ensure
that such rights are adequately protected.
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