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Part 4. Personnel Policies
Section V. Internal Grievance Procedures
D. Grievance Procedures for Institutional Faculty (Updated 5/02)
The procedure described herein provides an avenue for grievance for full-time faculty members at Idaho State University. The policy satisfies two objectives: (1) to affirm a faculty member’s right to be informed of and question personnel recommendations at any level and (2) to provide a mechanism for grieving a final institutional decision. If prior to filing a grievance or while a grievance proceeding is in progress, a faculty member seeks resolution of the matter in any other forum, Idaho State University shall have no further obligation to entertain or proceed with the matter pursuant to the procedures herein.
The grievance procedure provided in this policy may be used by a full-time faculty member in such matters as recommendations concerning tenure and promotion, content of personnel files, issues of academic freedom, and performance evaluation leading to nonrenewal. Exceptions to this grievance procedure include: (1) reduction in force due to financial exigency and (2) dismissal for cause.
a. The following criteria define which matters are grievable under this policy.
Recommendations for deferral of tenure, deferral or denial of promotion, content of personnel files, and issues of academic freedom are grievable under the following conditions:
(1) non-compliance with procedures prescribed by the ISU Faculty/Staff Handbook and the State Board of Education.
(2) utilization of inadequate or incomplete academic criteria and/or inappropriate non-academic considerations.
(3) claim of abuse of the grievant’s academic rights and privileges as defined by the ISU Policies and Procedures and the State Board of Education.
(4) claims of factual errors in a faculty member’s annual evaluation.
b. Recommendations of denial of tenure (which is a recommendation of nonrenewal) and nonrenewal are not grievable within Idaho State University and are not appealable to the Idaho State Board of Education. An exception is made when the employee alleges that the institutional decision not to recommend renewal of his or her appointment has been made for legally impermissible reasons or that written notice was not received in accordance with the dates specified by the State Board of Education.
c. The burden of proof upon any grievance rests with the grievant.
a. The intent of the grievance procedure is to resolve a grievance at the earliest moment possible. Therefore, in matters defined by Section 2.a, the affected faculty member shall be notified of the evaluation/recommendation and the reasons advanced for it at each level of the evaluation process. Within five (5) working days of receiving the evaluation/recommendation and its rationale, the affected faculty member may respond to it, in writing, to the next higher level of evaluation. The response must be limited to the grounds specified in 2.a. This and any subsequent written responses will become a part of the personnel materials considered at higher levels of evaluation.
b. Those procedures defined in 3.a, shall apply at each evaluation level, including the evaluation by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
a. Once the Vice President for Academic Affairs has rendered a decision (hereafter, “institutional decision”), regarding matters defined in Section 2.a, a faculty member who intends to initiate a further grievance must file a formal grievance as follows:
(1) Grieve the institutional decision by submitting a written notice of grievance to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the appropriate Faculty Senate within fifteen (15) working days of receipt of notice of the institutional decision.
(2) Specify which criteria defined in 2.a, form(s) the basis for the formal grievance.
(3) Include copies of all previous recommendations and the grievant’s informal grievance(s).
(4) Include any additional information that the faculty member deems relevant to the formal grievance.
b. The Appeals Board will limit its inquiry to the matters and conditions defined in Section 2.a.
c. The Appeals Board will not make judgments about professional competence, but will draw conclusions on the matters and conditions in 2.a, on the basis of the submitted documentation and the record of the witnesses called.
d. Formation and Composition of the Appeals Board.
(1) Academic Faculty
(a) The Faculty Appeals Board shall consist of seven (7) members.
(b) At the first meeting of the academic year of the Faculty Senate, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate will appoint two (2) tenured faculty members at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor to the Appeals Board. One of these faculty members, designated by the Executive Committee, shall chair the Appeals Board.
(c) At the beginning of the academic year, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall appoint three (3) members from the University faculty to the Appeals Board. All members of the Appeals Board must be full-time administrative or teaching faculty. The Vice President of Academic Affairs shall inform the Chair of the Appeals Board in writing of his appointees.
(d) Upon receipt of notice of grievance by the Faculty Senate, the two (2) members of the Appeals Board selected by the Faculty Senate will appoint two (2) additional members from the University faculty, including at least one (1) nontenured faculty member.
(e) The Appeals Board Chair is responsible for convening the Appeals Board within seven (7) working days after the grievance has been filed with the Vice President for Academic Affairs, providing the Appeals Board with all available factual information pertinent to the case, and seeing that the function of the Appeals Board is carried out. During the grievance hearing, the Chair shall be the presiding officer.
(f) The grievant and the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall each have the right of challenge to membership on the Appeals Board. This includes the right to challenge with cause any member on the Appeals Board and one peremptory challenge (no cause needed). Challenges shall be communicated to the Chair of the Faculty Appeals Board on or before the time of the Board’s first meeting. The Appeals Board will rule on all challenges to the membership. Vacancies however created shall be filled by the original appointing authority as described above. The challenger may take recommendations regarding areas from which replacements are chosen.
(2) College of Technology Faculty
(a) The Faculty Appeals Board shall consist of seven (7) members.
(b) At the first meeting of the academic year of the College of Technology Faculty Council, the Executive Committee of the College of Technology Faculty Council will appoint two (2) faculty members to the Appeals Board. One (1) of these faculty members, designated by the Executive Committee, shall chair the Appeals Board.
(c) At the beginning of the academic year, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall appoint three (3) members from the College of Technology faculty to the Appeals Board. All members of the Appeals Board must be full-time administrative or teaching faculty. The Vice President for Academic Affairs shall inform the Chair of the Appeals Board in writing of his appointees.
(d) Upon receipt of notice of grievance by the College of Technology Faculty Council, the two (2) members of the Appeals Board selected by the Faculty Council will appoint two (2) additional members from the College of Technology faculty.
(e) The Appeals Board Chair is responsible for convening the Appeals Board within seven (7) working days after the grievance has been filed with the Vice President for Academic Affairs, providing the Appeals Board with all available factual information pertinent to the case, and seeing that the function of the Appeals Board is carried out. During the grievance hearing, the Chair shall be the presiding officer.
(f) The grievant and the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall each have the right of challenge to membership on the Appeals Board. This includes the right to challenge with cause any member on the Appeals Board and one peremptory challenge (no cause needed). Challenges shall be communicated to the Chair of the Faculty Appeals Board on or before the time of the Board’s first meeting. The Appeals Board will rule on all challenges to the membership. Vacancies however created shall be filled by the original appointing authority as described under (2)(b)-(2)(d) above. The challenger may make recommendations regarding areas from which replacements are chosen.
a. No person shall be chosen to serve on the Appeals Board if he or she has received notice of layoff or nonrenewal as a result of financial exigency, has received notice of termination or nonrenewal for any other reason, or has any grievance, appeal, or litigation pending against any officer of the University. Nor shall any person be chosen who has made recommendations, offered comment, or otherwise participated in the institutional decision being grieved.
b. No member of the grievant’s department may serve on the Appeals Board.
c. Any member of the Appeals Board who has any special relationship to any particular grievant or to the administration which might reasonably be said to raise a claim of conflict of interest will report that fact to the parties involved.
d. The Chair of the Appeals Board will disqualify members based upon the limitations noted above. A new member(s) will be selected by means of the methods for constituting the hearing body described in 4.d, above.
e. Appeals Board Proceedings
(1) The hearing process is not a judicial proceeding. The scope of any hearing will be limited to grievances related to 2.a.
(2) Any faculty member who has received a grievable institutional decision and desires to grieve it through this process shall file a formal grievance within fifteen (15) working days of receipt of such notice, by transmitting the grievance in writing to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the Faculty Senate. Copies of all correspondence and materials considered in the informal review process shall accompany the grievance. In the written grievance, the faculty member will set down the grounds from 2.a, upon which the personnel decision is being grieved.
(3) The first meeting of the Appeals Board, called by the Chair within seven (7) working days of the filing of the grievance, will be held for the purposes of familiarizing the members with the general grievance procedures and dealing with challenges, if any, to the membership of the Faculty Appeals Board. The Appeals Board has final authority in all procedural matters, including the number and duration of the hearings, as well as the final recommendations in the case.
(4) The second meeting of the Appeals Board will be held with the grievant and the Vice President for Academic Affairs within seven (7) working days of the first meeting for the following purposes: (a) to consider the nature of the parties’ expected presentations, including the number and nature of witnesses and advisors to be called; and (b) to set mutually agreeable dates for the hearing(s), including times and durations of the presentations. Both the grievant and the Vice President for Academic Affairs will have the right to summon other parties who participated in the institutional decision. The Appeals Board will communicate in writing to the parties its determinations regarding the above within five (5) working days following this meeting. The Appeals Board Chair will rule on disputed matters concerning this subsection.
(5) As a general rule, the Appeals Board shall admit rather than exclude presentations which either party desires to make, deferring decisions on the relevance and weight to be given various submissions to the Appeals Board’s subsequent deliberations. The Appeals Board Chair will rule against presentations which are clearly repetitive, irrelevant or immaterial. The Appeals Board has the responsibility in each case to review all evidence presented to it. The facts on which the decision were made and the reasons for the action taken shall be discussed orally at the hearing.
The procedural requirements of formal adjudication shall not be required; however, the following minimal standards of procedure will be adhered to:
(1) Tape recordings will be made of each hearing session. Upon written request and payment of the cost of duplication, a grievant may obtain duplicate copies.
(2) Summary notes of the hearing will be kept by the Chair or an appointee of the Chair.
(3) The written grievance and subsequent information presented by the grievant will be made a part of the summary notes.
(4) A grievant will be afforded the opportunity to appear before the Appeals Board and discuss the issues contained in the written grievance.
(5) Witnesses may be asked to appear before the hearing body by the grievant, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, or by the Appeals Board Chair and asked to give testimony which is material and directly relevant to the decision under grievance. Those asked to appear have the responsibility to respond as though summoned by the President of the University. Each party may request the presiding officer to ask specific questions of an adverse witness, and the presiding officer shall comply if the questions posed appear to be probative, relevant, and fair. Direct questions by a party to an adverse witness shall be allowed only if they are asked without undue antagonism, and are truly questions and not argument.
(6) A grievant may have an advisor of his/her choice who may in an opening statement before the Appeals Board present the issues contained in the written grievance filed by the grievant. Henceforth, this advisor will act only in an advisory capacity to the grievant. Other parties involved in the hearing proceedings also may have an advisor who will act only in an advisory capacity.
(7) The Appeals Board and the grievant shall be afforded access to the appropriate documentation which was used in reaching the decision under grievance.
(8) It will be the responsibility of the grievant to present appropriate information to the Appeals Board to convince it that the institutional decision cannot be supported for reasons in 2.a.
(9) Any votes taken during the grievance proceedings must be by written ballot to be kept on file for the record. The ballots will be anonymous.
(10) The Appeals Board shall have the power to establish its own procedural rules subject to the limitations imposed in f.(1)-f.(9) above.
6. Conclusion
Within five (5) working days after the conclusion of the hearing, the Appeals Board will forward to the President of the University a report of its recommendation with copies to the parties to the dispute. The President will render a decision on the grievance and, within ten (10) working days after receiving that report, will notify by Certified Mail the Faculty member and the Chair of the Appeals Board of the final decision. The President’s decision may not be appealed to the State Board of Education, except when permitted by its policies and procedures.
One (1) copy of summary notes of meetings, the original tape recordings, ballots, and recommendations shall be kept in a file open to the grievant only. The file shall be located in the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.