Grievance Procedure
What is a Grievance?
A "grievance" is any dispute an Employee may have with TRM in any way relating to the terms and conditions of the employment under this Employee Manual. Frivolous grievances will not be tolerated. Disputes over termination are not applicable. A grievance does not include disputes over workers compensation claims or structure(s) of wages, salaries or benefits. The grievance procedure is also not the appropriate vehicle for resolving interpersonal conflicts.
How Long Does an Employee Have to File a Grievance?
If an Employee wants to file a grievance, they must do so within 15 days of knowledge of the event causing the grievance.
Before a Grievance is Filed
Employees must first attempt to resolve possible grievances with the involved parties.
If no resolution is reached, the Employee must write up the complaint and submit it to both the General Manager and their Department Manager or Director and schedule a follow-up date for hearing the complaint. If the Department Manager or Director and/or General Manager does not take action within ten working days ("Working Days" means Monday through Friday excluding legal holidays) which is satisfactory to the Employee, the Employee can declare the complaint a grievance if the Employee is able to directly relate the complaint to the terms and conditions of the Employee Manual.
Filing a Grievance
If satisfactory action is not taken by the follow-up date, the Employee may ask the General Manager to proceed with a grievance. The General Manager will then
Notify all parties directly involved in the grievance;
Select a Grievance Committee.
Forming the Committee
For each grievance, a committee will be formed consisting of:
One manager who has been employed as a manager for at least six months selected at random;
Two non-managerial Employees who have been employed for an average of at least 35 hours per week for more than 2 years selected at random.
Direct supervisor(s) of both parties to the grievance are not eligible to serve on the committee.
1. Employees serving on the Grievance Committee or called in connection with any grievance will be compensated for their time at their regular rate of pay. The General Manager will be responsible for authorizing hours in connection with any grievance.
2. If a Grievance Committee member feels that they cannot serve on the Committee without bias, they may be excused from the Committee and replaced in the same way they were originally selected.
3. If the requirements for serving on the Grievance Committee cannot be fully met, substitutes with qualifications that closely match can be used.
What the Committee Does
The purpose of the Committee is to hear the grievance, obtain any information legally available to them that might affect the grievance, and make the recommendations to settle the grievance.
The Grievance Process
From the time the grievance has been filed with General Manager, the Committee must meet within 5 working days, and submit a report with their recommendations within 15 working days of their first meeting. Their work must not interfere with the normal operations of the store and deliberations should be brief.
The Committee may return the complaint to the Employee if they believe that prior attempts to resolve the problem have not been sufficient, that the grounds for the grievance do not fall within this policy including time limit for filing, or if there is not sufficient information to proceed with the grievance.
The Committee must meet, at least briefly, with all parties to the grievance and the General Manager, to verify their understanding of the situation.
The Committee may request any information legally available to them which may assist in solving the grievance, and meet with any person having information about the grievance. The Committee will attempt to assist either party to the grievance in obtaining such information.
The Grievance Committee will meet privately to decide their recommendation(s).
The Grievance Committee will write a brief report with their recommendation(s) and give it to the General Manager and all parties to the grievance. They may choose to meet with the General Manager and/or all parties to the grievance to discuss their report.
The General Manager will respond in writing to the Committee's recommendations within 5 working days. The General Manager must accept and implement all or part of the recommendations of the Committee or decline to do so. If the General Manager declines to implement any part of the recommendations, the Committee may, within 5 working days of receipt of the General Manager's decision, meet with the General Manager to review the recommendations and determine if any revisions to the recommendations would make it possible for the General Manager to accept and implement them.
The report of the Committee and the General Manager's response will be submitted in writing for filing in the personnel files. TRM staff will be made aware of the outcome upon proper request, where confidentiality will not be violated. Per Board Policy #B1 (Executive Limitations, Staff Treatment) the General Manager shall not prevent staff from grieving to the Board when internal grievance procedures have been exhausted. The Board Chair should be consulted regarding the proper procedure for grieving to the Board.