University Faculty Senate

 

Faculty Grievance Code (2004)

Approved by the University Faculty Senate, October 2003. Approved by the University Board of Directors, February 2004. Effective February 12, 2004.

Contents

Introduction

A. Applicability
B. Grievable Matters
C. Notice of Proposed Disciplinary Action
D. Composition of University Grievance Code Committee

     1. Confidentiality Requirement

E. Administrative Procedures
F. Grievance Procedure

G. Amendment
H. Ratification

Note: Prof. William Vukowich, Chair of the Grievance Code Committee, has written A Guide to Georgetown University's Faculty Grievance Code which provides a general overview of the University's grievance process. It can be found at: http://facultysenate.georgetown.edu/archives/grievance.pdf

Introduction

This code provides the procedures under which a faculty member believing himself aggrieved by department, school or administrative action described herein is able to seek a remedy within the University. The faculty member is obliged to exhaust these procedures with regard to any grievance before pursuing remedies outside the University.

A. Applicability

For purposes of this Code, faculty members are defined as all part-time and full-time tenured, tenure eligible and non-tenure eligible, persons who are appointed by the University as officers of instruction to teach and/or conduct scholarly research, and librarians of professional rank. (1) University administrators and staff, however, are not covered by the Code, except that any such person may invoke the Code if, in his or her capacity as an individual faculty member (and not because of any action or omission in his or her administrative or staff capacity) he or she is subjected to any of the disciplinary actions listed in Sections B.1 through B.7 of this Code. Specifically, for example, no such person is entitled to grieve the decision of the University to terminate his or her administrative or staff appointment. Resolution of questions concerning which capacity gave rise to the grievance shall be a jurisdictional matter for the Grievance Panel. Trainees (e.g., post-doctoral fellows, research associates, clinical interns, residents and fellows) of whatever title are also excluded from coverage of the Code.(2)

Grievances ascribed to discrimination (including denial of tenure, promotion or reappointment) are not covered by this Code and should be processed as defined in the Georgetown University Affirmative Action Plan, Section 7.(3) Nor does this Code cover conflicts between faculty members, unless the faculty member against whom the grievance is lodged was in that case acting administratively in a manner described by Paragraph B, Grievable Matters.

B. Grievable Matters

A grievable matter arises when any of the following department, school or administrative actions involves a violation of academic freedom or of University procedures or of other faculty rights as set forth, for example, in individual faculty contracts, the Faculty Handbook, AAUP statements adopted by the Board of Directors or other appropriately authorized University documents:

In general, this Code does not cover the merits of refusal of tenure, promotion or reappointment. It does, however, require that the rules and regulations applicable to the grant or refusal of tenure or promotion or reappointment promulgated in the current issue of the Faculty Handbook and in other relevant University publications be fully complied with and administered fairly. This Code also covers situations where tenure or promotion or reappointment is denied for reasons that allegedly involved a violation of academic freedom.

C. Notice of Proposed Disciplinary Action

The following disciplinary actions - dismissal, suspension without pay, revocation of tenure, reduction in rank and reduction in salary - shall take effect only if the administrative officer of the University who intends to take such action gives to the faculty member affected by the proposed action written notice of the action at least fifteen days(4) in advance of its effective date and only if the faculty member affected by the proposed action does not invoke the procedures of this Code. Such notice shall be confidential unless confidentiality is waived by the faculty member affected by the proposed action. A faculty member may, however, be summarily suspended with pay if the functioning of the University is impeded by his/her actions. Such suspension with pay shall be carried out only by the President of the University or by the appropriate Executive Vice President.

D. Composition of University Grievance Code Committee

The University Grievance Code Committee shall consist of seventeen tenured members of the faculty, seven from the Main Campus of the University and five from each of the Medical and Law Center campuses of the University. Tenured faculty members simultaneously serving as administrators are not eligible for appointment to or continuing service on the Committee. The Faculty Senate shall elect nine members of from the faculty members covered by this Code and the University President shall appoint eight members from the faculty members covered by this Code. The normal term is three years and the members of the Committee are not eligible for election or appointment by the University President to more than two terms consecutively. However, Committee members serving on a grievance panel at the expiration of their term or terms shall continue to serve until that panel has completed its consideration of that particular grievance, including any remand thereof. Terms commence on July 1st and expire on June 30th. The President of the Faculty Senate shall appoint, from the members of the Committee, a Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson of the Committee to serve three years terms each. The Senators from each campus shall designate a total of six tenured faculty members (two from the Main Campus, two from the Medical Center Campus and two from the Law Center Campus) to act as an alternate source of members of any Grievance Panel. These members will be used only if the requisite number of panelists from the Committee are not available in a particular case. Members shall serve on this alternate list for a three year period. The names will be submitted to the Chairperson of the Committee by July 1 of each year.

When in the judgement of the Committee Chairperson the volume of Committee work demands, he or she may request the designation, in such even number as he or she sees fit, of additional alternate members of the Committee, such designation to be made half by the Faculty Senate President upon the advice of the Faculty Senate caucus of the campus or campuses to which the request is submitted, and half by the Executive Vice President of such campus or campuses. Alternates thus designated shall serve only during the University fiscal year during which they are appointed, provided that, if any is serving on a grievance panel at the end of that fiscal year, he or she shall continue to serve until that panel has completed its consideration of that particular grievance, including any remand thereof. Alternates designated under this procedure shall be, as in the case with previously authorized alternates, from the ranks of tenured faculty. Alternates selected in either of the ways described above have the same rights and duties as a regular Committee member to participate and vote in full committee proceedings with regard to the decision of a panel on which the alternate has served.

1) Confidentiality Requirement

E. Administrative Procedures

The University Grievance Code Committee shall establish operating procedures necessary to implement the code. The procedures include the following:

1) The committee shall establish a hierarchy of members in the order of precedence to act in the absence of the Chairperson or the Vice Chairperson of the committee.

2) Subject to the disapproval of the President of the Faculty Senate or his/her designee, the Chairperson of the Committee or his/her delegate shall have discretion, before the expiration of the time limits set by the Code or within ten days thereafter, to enlarge the time or times within which action must be taken under this Code if in his/her judgment such extension of the time is appropriate, as, for example, when Committee members are unavailable due to holiday recess. It shall be the responsibility of the Chairperson or his/her delegate to notify all parties affected by any enlargement of the time granted under this section.

3) The Committee shall establish any procedures to the extent not defined by this Code such as, but not limited to, balloting, quorum, and time frame of activities. The Committee shall also define any terms not defined in this Code and shall establish any other guidelines to protect equitably the interest of the grievant and the University. The Committee shall file its operating procedures with the President of the Faculty Senate.

4) When a grievance proceeding ends, the Chairperson shall forward the file to the Secretary of the University so that the University may maintain a record of proceedings. The file consists of all written evidence and documentation, including tape recordings and stenographic transcriptions used by any Panel or the Committee in connection with the proceeding, except documents generally circulated, such as the Faculty Handbook. The University Secretary shall keep the contents of the file confidential.

F. Grievance Procedure

1) Filing Requirements.

(a) Notice of Grievance. A faculty member who believes that he/she has a grievance should file a "Notice of Grievance" with the President of the Faculty Senate (or another Senate officer in the President's absence) within 30 days of receiving Notice of the action that gives rise to the grievance. Where negotiations between the grievant and the relevant administrative department are pending or other circumstances suggest that formal initiation of the grievance procedure would best be deferred in the interest of all concerned, the grievant, at the discretion of the President of the Senate (or another Senate officer in the President's absence), can satisfy this filing requirement if within 30 days he or she files a letter with such person indicating an intent to file a formal grievance. The President of the Senate will notify the grievant if the request to defer filing has been granted. If the dispute is not resolved within 25 days of the President's approval of a deferral, the President of the Faculty Senate shall notify the grievant and require him or her promptly to submit the formal "Notice of Grievance" described in this section, unless a further extension is agreed to in writing by both the grievant and the relevant administrator. (5)

Should the Senate officers be unavailable, the faculty member may file the notice with the Secretary of the University, who shall forward it as soon as possible to the appropriate Senate officer. In any case a copy of this notice shall also be forwarded by the official receiving it to the appropriate Executive Vice President, or, if that Executive Vice President will be a respondent, to the University Vice President. The "Notice of Grievance" shall contain a concise statement of the reasons that lead the faculty member to feel aggrieved, and shall include the name of the administrator whose action has given rise to the grievance. (6) It is the responsibility of the grievant to properly record his/her grievance within the specified time frame. With the consent of the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee, the President of the Faculty Senate can dismiss a grievance if the applicant is not a person covered by Paragraph A (Applicability) of this Code. Any such dismissal may be appealed to the full Grievance Code Committee following procedures outlined in Paragraph F(4), infra. If not thus dismissed the case shall proceed under the next paragraph involving a conciliation.

(b) Subsequent Filings. After the Notice of Grievance, whenever any notice or written submission is filed by the Grievant or the Respondent, or by any representative on behalf of either of them, with the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee, with the Chairperson of the Grievance Panel, or with the entire Panel, a copy of that notice or submission shall be sent simultaneously to all other parties or to representatives acting on their behalf.”

2) Conciliation.

Within three days of receiving a "Notice of Grievance" from the grievant or from the Secretary of the University judged to be complete by the President of the Faculty Senate (or another Senate officer in the President's absence), or as soon thereafter as circumstances permit, the President of the Faculty Senate shall appoint a conciliator who shall attempt to resolve informally the issues that gave rise to the grievance. The conciliator shall be a tenured faculty member of this University drawn to the maximum extent possible from a panel of conciliators established by the Faculty Senate. The conciliator shall meet with the grievant and the administrator whose action has given rise to the grievance (and/or his or her successor in office), either individually or together. Any such meeting shall be closed (e.g., no advisor for either party may attend) and confidential. The conciliation process should proceed expeditiously and should ordinarily be completed within fourteen days of the appointment of the conciliator. The process may be extended, however, if in the judgment of the President of the Faculty Senate, and with the agreement of the parties, special circumstances make such an extension desirable. At the conclusion of the conciliation process, the conciliator shall promptly report in writing the results of the process to the President of the Faculty Senate. This report shall not contain a recommendation on the merits of the dispute, but shall simply state whether or not the dispute has been resolved. If the issues that gave rise to the grievance have been resolved to the satisfaction of the grievant and the administrator whose action gave rise to the grievance (or his or her successor in office), the matter is ended. If the issues have not been satisfactorily resolved, the President of the Faculty Senate shall, within three days of receiving the conciliator's report, inform the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee.

3) Initial Review.

When a grievance has not been resolved by conciliation, the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee shall appoint a Grievance Panel, to consist of three committee members, two from the campus on which the grievance arose, and one from either of the other two campuses, to hear the grievance. The Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee shall appoint the Chairperson of each Grievance Panel. As to each of these appointments the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee should seek to assure that appointees are free of bias, conflict of interest, or such previous association with the issues raised by the grievance as would recommend that the appointee not serve. The Grievance Panel shall begin to review the grievance on a calendar established by the Committee chairperson. The Panel may seek additional information from any source. The panel shall decide whether it has jurisdiction to act. If it decides it lacks jurisdiction, it shall dismiss the grievance. If the Panel decides it has jurisdiction, it shall decide whether the matter merits investigation. If the Panel decides that the matter on its face merits investigation, it shall decide the merits, conducting as many formal hearings (Paragraph 5) as it considers necessary. If it decides that the matter does not merit investigation, it shall dismiss the grievance. The Panel shall make its decision as expeditiously as circumstances permit and shall promptly report its decision to the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee who shall inform the grievant, the involved administrator (or his or her successor in office) and the appropriate Executive Vice President.

4) Appeal from the Initial Review.

(a) By the Grievant. If the Panel dismissed the grievance on jurisdictional grounds or decides that the matter does not merit investigation, the grievant may appeal either determination to the full Grievance Code Committee.

If the grievant does not appeal, the matter is ended and the Chairperson of the Committee shall notify the President of the Faculty Senate, the involved administrator and the appropriate Executive Vice President.

To appeal, the grievant shall, within five days after receiving notification of the adverse determination, file an appeal with the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee or, in his/her absence, the Vice Chairperson. In their absence the grievant may file with the Secretary of the University or his/her designate, who will present the "Notice of Appeal" to the appropriate Committee member (Paragraph E(2)). The Chairperson or in his/her absence the Vice Chairperson shall promptly distribute copies of the appeal to all Committee members along with the request that each member notify the Chair immediately if that member wishes to convene to discuss the appeal. Unless within seven days of such distribution the Chair receives six votes favoring a meeting to discuss the appeal the appeal of the grievant is denied. If fewer than six votes are timely entered, the matter is ended. If six members do timely vote to consider the appeal, the Chairperson shall promptly convene the Committee for such purpose. The full Grievance Code Committee shall then review the Panel's determination as expeditiously as possible.

Thereafter, an appeal is rejected unless a majority of those members of the Grievance Code Committee who vote on the matter votes to overturn the Panel's decision. The Chairperson or his/her designate shall report the results of the Committee's review to the President of the Faculty Senate, the involved administrator (or his or her successor in office), the grievant and the appropriate Executive Vice President.

If the Committee does not vote for the grievant, the grievant may appeal to the President of the University. If the grievant does not appeal, the matter ends.

If the Committee decides that the Panel erred in dismissing the grievance on jurisdictional grounds, it shall remand for a determination as to whether the matter merits investigation as provided in Paragraph F(3) (Initial Review). If the Committee decides that the Panel erred in deciding that the matter did not merit investigation, the Committee Chairperson may remand for a hearing on the merits, as provided in Paragraph F(5) (Formal Hearing); for this remand, the Committee shall appoint a new Panel to conduct a formal hearing on the grievance.

(b) By the Administrator. The involved administrator (or his or her successor in office) may appeal a Panel's determination that the grievance falls within the Panel's jurisdiction by filing a written appeal with the Grievance committee Chairperson (or Vice Chairperson or Secretary of the University as per the preceding subsection 4.a) within five days of receiving notification of the Panel's jurisdictional determination. The Chairperson shall promptly distribute copies of the appeal to all Committee members along with the request that each member notify the Chair immediately if that member wishes to convene to discuss the appeal. Unless within seven days of such distribution the Chair receives six votes favoring a meeting to discuss the appeal, the appeal of the administrator is denied. No further appeal on the jurisdictional issue is permitted the administrator until the time of later appeal to the President described in Section F.7. infra. If six members do timely vote to consider the appeal, the Chairperson shall promptly convene the Committee for such purpose. At that meeting the administrator's appeal is rejected unless the majority of those members of the Grievance Code Committee who vote on the matter votes to overturn the Panel's decision, and no further appeal by the administrator on the jurisdictional issue is permitted until the time of later appeal (if any) to the President described infra in Section F.7. If a majority of those members of the Grievance Code Committee who vote on the matter votes to overturn the Panel's decision, determining that the Panel erred in finding jurisdiction, the matter is ended unless the grievant appeals to the President per the preceding subsection (F.4.a.).

5) Formal Hearings.

In conducting a formal hearing, the Panel shall use the following procedures:

The Panel Chairperson, after consulting the parties, shall promptly notify them of the time and place of the hearing, which the Panel should hold as promptly as possible after determining that the Committee has jurisdiction and that the matter merits investigation. The parties may submit written evidence or documentation before the hearing. Each party shall notify the Panel Chairperson and the opposing party of the witness(es) he/she intends to call no later than five days before the hearing. Each party has responsibility for arranging the attendance of any witness he/she intends to call.

Each party can choose an advisor to accompany him/her to the hearing.(7) Each party can call witnesses or present other evidence; can examine any evidence submitted to the Panel by anyone else; and can question witnesses he/she has not called. The hearing shall be electronically or otherwise recorded verbatim. Upon request, a copy of the recording shall be furnished to either party at the University's expense.

The Panel may adjourn the hearing to permit the parties to obtain further evidence.

A grievance hearing is not a formal judicial proceeding. Its ultimate purpose is to evaluate the fairness of the administrative action that gave rise to the grievance. To achieve that end, the Hearing Panel can exclude irrelevant issues or evidence, and can place reasonable limits on argument, on the questioning of witnesses.

The Panel can decide when it has enough information to decide the merits.

A member of a Hearing Panel shall serve until the particular grievance process is concluded, even though his/her term of service on the full Grievance Code Committee has expired.

Written submission in lieu of hearing. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may at any time waive his/her right to a hearing and elect to proceed on the basis of written submission alone. Any such waiver must be in writing, must have the agreement of both parties and must be submitted to the Panel Chairperson. Written submissions on the merits of the case are to be thereafter submitted to the Panel in accord with a schedule prescribed by the Chairperson, whose duty it is to see that the matter is advanced expeditiously.

Within fifteen days after the conclusion of the hearing, or of written submission in lieu of hearing, the Panel shall submit its findings and decision (the report) to the Committee Chairperson who shall immediately sent the report to the grievant, to the appropriate Executive Vice President, to the administrator to whose action the grievant objected, to the President of the Faculty Senate, and to other members of the Grievance Code Committee.

6) Appeal to the Full Grievance Code Committee.

Within ten days of receiving the Panel's report from the Committee Chairperson under the preceding paragraph, either party to a grievance proceeding may request a full committee review of the Panel report. The request must be in writing and must state reasons for review. When so requested, all divided Panel reports shall be reviewed by the full Committee. Unanimous Panel reports shall be reviewed only if, within fifteen days of receipt of a request for review, six members of the full Committee vote to review the Panel report. In either case, the Chairperson shall promptly call one or more meetings of the full Committee. The Committee can reverse the Panel's findings and/or recommendations or may remand with appropriate instructions to the panel if a majority of those voting vote to do so. Such action shall be taken on the basis of the existing record and without further hearing or fact-gathering.

The Chairperson of the Committee shall file and distribute the decision of the committee as provided under Paragraph F(5).

7) Appeal to the University President.

Should either party desire to appeal the Committee's decision to the President he/she shall file his/her "Notice to Appeal" within 15 days after the Chairperson has sent the Committee's decision to the parties. The party shall file his/her "Notice of Appeal" with the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee, concurrently sending a copy to the adverse party. The "Notice of Appeal," shall contain a concise statement of the reasons that lead the party making the appeal to believe that the Panel's determinations were erroneous, and shall include adesignation by the appealing party of which papers in the file he/she wishes forwarded to the President of the University. Upon the filing of the "Notice of Appeal," the file on the grievance shall be forwarded by the Committee chairperson to the President of the University. The file consists of such parts of the record as may be designated by the parties, but the Committee chairperson is authorized to place fair and reasonable limits on the size of the record forwarded. At the President's discretion, but not later than ten days after his receipt of the file on the grievance, the President may remand the matter to the Committee or to the Panel for further deliberations. If the matter is remanded, the Chairperson of the Committee shall report to the President as soon as possible on the outcome of the panel's and/or the Committee's further deliberations.

Within twenty days of receipt of the "Notice of Appeal," or, if there has been a remand, within twenty days of the receipt of the Committee's additional report, and after such consultation as he deems appropriate, the President shall accept or reject the findings and decision of the Committee, including the finding of jurisdiction and shall state in writing the reasons for his acceptance or rejection. Review by the President shall be confined to evidence considered by the full Committee, in addition to whatever arguments the parties may make with regard thereto. If the President is unavailable to act within the time provisions of this section, then the President shall appoint an Executive Vice President from a campus other than the campus on which the grievant is employed to review the appeal in the manner described. Either the President or the Executive Vice President who conducts such a review may at his/her discretion appoint a senior member of the faculty as a "Master" to assist with the review.

The President or Executive Vice President conducting such a review shall communicate his/her decision to the adverse parties, to the Chairperson of the Grievance Code Committee, to the President of the Faculty Senate and to the appropriate Executive Vice President. In the extraordinary event that the President or other officer designated above does not act within the time limits imposed by this section, the Panel's decision shall become final and shall be immediately implemented by the appropriate University authorities.

G. Amendment

The Code may be amended only after: (1) an advisory vote of a majority of the University Faculty Senate present at a meeting after the matter has lain on the table for at least one meeting and proposed amendment has been publicized to the full Faculty; and (2) approval by the University Board of Directors.

H. Ratification

This code shall take effect only after advice by the University Faculty Senate, approval and recommendation by the President of the University and ratification by the University Board of Directors. Every five years the University

President shall appoint a six member committee to review this Code. The President shall select three members and the University Faculty Senate shall select three members.

Approved for distribution (10/31/2005)

Footnotes---

1. This Code thus covers faculty who are currently salaried employees of MedStar, in any case in which such a faculty member’s grievance falls within Paragraph B and is against a person holding a University appointment (e.g., an academic Department head) whose administrative decision is the basis of the grievance; provided, however, that this Code does not apply to MedStar decisions

2. If a person not expressly covered by this Code or any other University grievance code is aggrieved in circumstances where considerations of academic freedom indicate the Code should nonetheless apply, the appropriate Campus Executive Vice President is authorized, at his/her discretion, to extend the coverage of the Code at that person's request.

3. Grievants wishing to file under this Code and the Affirmative Action Plan must exhaust the University Affirmative Action Code procedures before procedures under this Code will be initiated with regard to the non-discrimination aspects of the grievant's case. If grievant files under the Affirmative Action Code after proceedings under this Code have commenced, the proceeding under this Code may be immediately suspended, in the discretion of the Grievance Code Chairperson. To assure that this order of treatment of grievances is followed, the Grievance Code Chairperson shall notify the Director of the Affirmative Action Office of the identity of any grievant once conciliation has failed.

4. As used throughout the text of the Code, the word "day" refers to working days, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

5. However, where the potential grievant has within the 30 day period notified the Senate President that the grievant is first pursuing an affirmative action complaint (see f.n. 2 supra) the grievant is not required to file his grievance under this Code until the university phase of the affirmative action proceeding is terminated. Such notice shall contain a brief statement of the grounds upon which the grievance will later be filed. Absent exceptional circumstances, as determined by the Senate President, no grievance under this Code may be filed in such a case unless filed within 14 calendar days of the termination internally of the University's affirmative action proceeding.

6. The name of the administrator whose action gives rise to the grievance is to be given in order to enable those involved in the settlement or decision-making process to understand the nature of the grievant’s complaint. The administrator is, however, named in his or her official capacity, and not in any personal capacity. From time to time the holder of a relevant administrative position (such as a department chair) may change. Thus, if between the time of the action giving rise to the grievance and the filing of the Notice of Grievance, the person of the administrator shall have changed, the person named as Respondent in the Notice of Grievance shall be the holder of that position when the Notice of Grievance is filed. If the person of the Respondent-administrator shall change during the pendency of a grievance, including upon appeal, the name of the successor administrator shall be used on subsequent papers that are filed. An error in naming the wrong person in office shall not affect the substance of the grievance procedure.

7. Advisors for the parties are not permitted to have any contact with a conciliator during the conciliation process. Neither are they permitted to participate in the Initial Review by a panel (See Sec.F.(3) & (4)) except by written submission. During hearings on the merits of the grievance, advisors may be present but are limited to off-record consultation with his/her party/advisee, and may make a closing summary of argument within reasonable time limits set by the Panel Chair. The foregoing rules do not replace those in effect in proceedings in progress when this Code is adopted.

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