Grievance Review Committee
(CCEA Express, February 2010 issue)

Article 4-16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement allows the school district and the Association to form a joint committee to discuss and create a Grievance Review Committee (“GRC”).  The parties have since negotiated and formed the GRC which will consist of retired administrators, retired teachers, and an arbitrator.  The goal of the committee is to resolve grievances in an expeditious manner.

The parties will be conducting a joint training for the GRC on February 12, 2010, with the intention that the GRC will be up and running in March.  The GRC members have been agreed to by both parties.  The GRC will be able to hear 4-6 grievances per meeting, compared to the traditional arbitration process where only one case is heard.

All parties must agree in writing that the grievance is appropriate for the GRC, including the individual member.  The parties have agreed that attorneys will not represent the parties and that the majority decision of the GRC is final and binding on all parties with no right to appeal of any kind.  The decision of the GRC will not set precedent.  If the GRC cannot reach a majority decision, the grievance will proceed to Step Three: Expedited Arbitration pursuant to Article 4-6 of the Negotiated Agreement.  The GRC must provide a bench decision after deliberation.

This new process is exciting in that grievances will be heard in an expeditious manner and both retired teachers and retired administrators will be the decision-makers.  The GRC will have an equal number of members from each side, and while initially an arbitrator will serve as a facilitator to the GRC, it is the intent of the parties that in the future the arbitrator will not be necessary for the process.

This process is ideal for unsatisfactory evaluations because while an arbitrator will not replace the judgment of an evaluator, an arbitrator will only determine if there has been a contract violation, whereas the GRC can make a determination that a single isolated misconduct does not warrant an unsatisfactory evaluation.  Another appropriate use of this process may be the level of discipline issued; i.e., the grievant admits to the wrongdoing but not to the level of punishment that has been given.

This is another innovative program that CCEA has been able to negotiate in order to improve member rights and benefits.  This new system can potentially make grievances more expeditious giving grievants an opportunity to be heard sooner.