Grievance Procedures for Faculty

The Faculty Welfare Committee and the Faculty Senate have been reviewing the feasibility and design of a faculty grievance process.

TWO FACULTY HANDBOOK ADDITIONS 

Approved by the Canisius College Board of Trustees on May 8, 2006 
Effective August 1, 2006 


Addition One

To Chapter 6 of the Faculty Handbook a new provision is added establishing new due dates for annual reports by faculty seeking promotion or tenure and also for the departmental and decanal recommendations in tenure and promotion cases.  The new provision, numbered 3.1.2, is as follows:
 
3.1.2 However, a faculty member applying for tenure or promotion will submit this report to the Department Chair by October 1, along with the application.  By October 30, the department will submit its recommendation to the Dean, whose own recommendation will be ready for the faculty member’s signature by November 30.
 

Addition Two

To the end of the Faculty Handbook the text appended below as Chapter 10 is added.  It sets forth a faculty grievance policy.


CHAPTER 10.  FACULTY GRIEVANCE POLICY 

Purpose 

The purpose of this Faculty Grievance Policy is to provide recourse for full-time faculty members who believe they have been subjected to unfair treatment by academic administrators, including Department Chairs and Program Directors.   


Eligibility 

All full-time members of the faculty on tenure, tenure-track, and term contracts may use the Faculty Grievance Policy.  Full time faculty includes those on the Faculty Resources Program (FRP), on sabbatical, and on leave (including Medical, Personal, Maternity/Paternity and Child Care, Academic or Educational, and Employment leave).  Individuals who have administrative contracts but also have regular teaching responsibilities are not eligible to use this procedure.  Former full-time faculty members who have recently been terminated may also initiate a grievance within 90 days of their official separation from the college.   


Appropriate Grievance 

A faculty grievance is a complaint by a faculty member about unfair treatment in his or her work by a person exercising academic authority such as a Program Director, Chair, Associate Dean, Dean, Academic Vice President, or other academic officer.  Grievances occur within the existing framework of Canisius College policy.  Written college policy itself may not be the object of a grievance.  Failure to satisfy the grievant after the grievance process has been completed is not itself grievable.   

Grievances covered by this policy include but are not limited to complaints arising from compensation or working conditions, salary determination, sabbaticals, leaves of absence, individual academic workloads, course scheduling, office space, use of department resources, and outside activities.  The present policy is for grievances only within the academic affairs area.  On those occasions when a faculty member believes that he or she has been treated unfairly by persons exercising authority in some other area of the college, the faculty member is encouraged to use whatever complaint process is available in that other area.   

Excluded from this procedure are (1) all matters within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Faculty Status and the Evaluation Review and Appeals Committee, (2) matters such as harassment that are covered by other existing policies, and (3) matters that are covered by civil or criminal law such as racial discrimination, family leave, defamation, threatening, and others. 

In recognition of the collegial nature of the grievance process, no party is allowed to bring legal counsel to any meeting sanctioned by or implementing this policy.  To do so would be to step outside the framework of this Grievance Policy. 

By pursuing the grievance procedure, the grievant waives no rights conferred by law.
 

Confidentiality 

Almost every formal or informal grievance involves both a grievant’s right to know and the institution’s need to protect the confidentiality of certain information and deliberations.  Questions of access should be resolved by attending to the conflicting specific interests of the case at hand.  As a general rule, however, a grievant has no right to confidential communications of colleagues whether as individuals or as members of a department or college committee.  On the other hand, if the Grievance Panel is to make an informed decision and recommendation, it must have access to pertinent information, including for example a department’s minutes or other records in connection with a disputed matter.  
 

Procedures 

  1. Informal Stage Using Existing Lines of Authority 
    All grievances must first be pursued through an informal stage using the existing lines of authority.  The first step in the informal procedure is for the grievant to take his or her matter to the administrator whose decision or action is the cause of the grievance.  This administrator is hereafter referred to as the subject of the grievance.  If no resolution occurs at this level, the grievant next takes the matter to the immediate supervisor of the subject of the grievance.  If no resolution occurs at this level, the grievant may continue by taking the matter through higher levels of authority up to the Academic Vice President.  For most faculty grievances this sequence will be:  Program Director (if appropriate), Department Chair, Dean, and Academic Vice President.  This informal stage does not go beyond recourse to the Academic Vice President, unless the Academic Vice President is the subject of the grievance; in that case recourse is to the President or his designate.   

    In this informal stage no written petition is needed and no records of meetings or decisions are needed.  The grievant is free to take notes on the events as they transpire.  The grievant also has the right in the informal stage to be accompanied by a trusted colleague, faculty member, or administrator.  This colleague may act as an advisor, problem solver, or advocate for the grievant.  The emphasis in the informal stage is on a collegial review of the dispute and seeking a reasonable solution.  If the grievance is resolved in the informal stage, no official records of any proceedings are kept.  All parties are notified orally of the resolution.   

  2. Formal Stage Using a Faculty Grievance Panel 
    If, despite reciprocal and good faith efforts, every opportunity for informal resolution has failed to satisfy the grievant, the grievant may petition a formal grievance.  The steps in this process follow. 

    Grievance Petition 
    This is a formal, complete, written statement of the grievance.  It follows an outline.

a. a statement of particulars including specification of the basis of the grievance and the subject of the grievance;
b. a summary of the steps taken in the informal stage;
c. a statement of how the grievant has been harmed;
d. a proposed remedy for the dispute;
e. any relevant information or documents that support the grievance.

This confidential statement goes to the Academic Vice President and to the Chair of the Faculty Senate.  They deliver it to the Faculty Grievance Panel, once it is empanelled, and to the subject of the grievance.   


Faculty Grievance Panel 

Upon receipt of a formal written grievance petition, a Faculty Grievance Panel is convened by the Academic Vice President to hear the grievance and make an appropriate recommendation.  The Panel consists of five people, none of whom has been previously involved with the grievance in question:  
  • Three faculty members appointed by the Chair of the Faculty Senate 
  • Two persons appointed by the Academic Vice President (or by the President or the President’s delegate if the Academic Vice President is the subject of the grievance):  
    • a current administrator at a level comparable to the administrator who is the subject of the grievance; and  
    • a current faculty member with prior experience as an Academic Chair, Program Director, Associate Dean, Dean or Vice President.
Once the tentative membership is announced, each party to the grievance is allowed one peremptory challenge to any of the five members.  In addition to peremptory challenges, each party can make a reasonable number of challenges for cause.  In a challenge for cause, the challenging party must persuade the appointing individual that the challenged appointment would result in unfair bias or conflict of interest.  The appointing individual’s decision on a challenge for cause is final.   

The panel selects a chair from among its members.   

Procedures of the Faculty Grievance Panel 

Before conducting any hearing, the newly appointed panel studies the written grievance petition.  The panel has the right to:
  1. Determine whether the substance of the petition is or is not grievable and whether the informal stage has or has not been exhausted.  If ruled not grievable or not exhausted at the informal level, the petition is returned with an explanation. 
  2. Request additional data in writing from the grievant or the subject of the grievance. 
  3. Attempt an informal resolution by consultation with the parties.
If the substance of the petition is determined to be grievable and no informal resolution has been reached, the panel shall proceed to a formal hearing governed by the following rules: 

  1. Confidential minutes will be kept, but no verbatim transcript, voice recording, or video recording will be made or kept by anyone. 
  2. Only the members of the panel and the parties to the grievance are to be present at all times during the hearing  
  3. The panel has the right to summon witnesses and question them, and to request and review records relevant to the grievance. 
  4. The parties to the grievance do not have the right to question witnesses.  They do have the right to address the panel after all the evidence has been presented. 
  5. The burden of proof is on the person bringing the grievance. 
  6. No legal counsel to any party is permitted at the hearing.  Also, any colleague who served as an advisor to the grievant in the Informal Stage may not be present as an advisor during the hearing. 
  7. The hearings and deliberation of the panel are confidential.  This includes the testimony, proceedings, and the panel’s report.  All parties involved in the hearings and deliberation of the panel are bound by the confidentiality rule.  Violations of confidentiality will be looked upon as serious violations of the collegiality by which the college must function.   
  8. Confidential materials compiled by the grievance panel shall be placed in a separate file created for this purpose.  The President is responsible for maintaining this file.  Files of previous deliberations shall not be accessible to a functioning grievance panel absent a need to know.  A decision to examine past deliberations shall require an affirmative vote by three of the five members of the functioning grievance panel.
Upon conclusion of the hearing, the panel determines in private session the merits of the grievance and then reports its conclusions and recommendations to the parties to the grievance and to the President of the College. 

A simple majority of the panel suffices for adoption of the report and recommendation.  
 

Actions after the Hearing 

The President’s initial presumption regarding the resolution of grievances favors the judgment of the Grievance Panel.  However, should the President believe that there are substantive reasons to go against the Panel’s recommendations, he shall state his reasons in a letter to be sent to the Grievance Panel, the grievant, and the subject of the grievance.  Otherwise the President shall instruct the Academic Vice President to execute the decision of the Grievance Panel.  The President’s determination is final.   


Grievance Procedure Time Line 

All parties have a stake in reaching a timely resolution to any grievance.  The time periods below are calendar days and are in effect for any grievance initiated from the first day of fall classes to the conclusion of examinations in the spring semester.  Because faculty and administrators are frequently absent in the summer months, any time period that extends past the last day of spring semester final examinations is doubled.  For any period that extends over either the first day of fall classes or the last day of spring final exams, the period is pro-rated so that the days falling in the summer session are doubled while those falling within the fall and spring semesters are counted as one each.  Extensions to any or all of the time periods may be granted due to unusual or extreme circumstances.  A grievant who wishes such an extension should submit a written petition explaining the circumstances to the Chair of the Faculty Senate and the Academic Vice President (or the President if the Academic Vice President is the subject of the grievance). 

A faculty member may initiate a grievance within 90 days from the time the grievable decision or action becomes effective and is known by the grievant.  
 

Informal Stage 

The informal stage is not to exceed 45 days from the day that the grievance is initiated.
 

Formal Stage 

If the grievance is not resolved in the informal stage, the grievant has 21 days to file a grievance petition with the Academic Vice President and the Chair of the Faculty Senate.  The 21 days begin either when the grievant, having exhausted his efforts through the lines of authority, has been notified by the Academic Vice President (or the President if the Academic Vice President is the subject of the grievance) that his grievance is denied, or after 45 days, whichever comes first. 

After receipt of the petition, the Chair of the Faculty Senate and the Academic Vice President have 15 days to empanel the proposed members of the Grievance Panel.  After the announcement of their appointments the grievant has 7 days for the single peremptory challenge and 7 additional days for challenges for cause.  After reviewing the challenges for cause, the appointing parties, if they agree with the challenges, have 7 days to appoint new members.   

Once an acceptable Faculty Grievance Panel has been formed, the Panel has 60 days to complete its work, including, if appropriate, holding a formal hearing and rendering a decision.  
 

After the Hearing 

The President has 15 days after receiving the decision to either instruct the Academic Vice President to execute the decision or communicate in writing to all parties his substantive reasons for going against the decision.
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