STATEMENT:

The University believes in treating all employees fairly and impartially and reaffirms its strong commitment to the belief that undisclosed problems will remain unresolved and eventually lead to decay of work relationships, dissatisfaction with the job, decline in morale and productivity, and loss of confidence in the University and its personnel.

The University supports an administrative review system the intent of which is to solve problems before they reach levels where formal grievance actions become necessary. Employees who seek resolution of employment related concerns using established procedures are assured that they will not be penalized or subjected to any form of retaliation for using the review system.

As a rule of thumb, concerns should be voiced at the earliest possible time and at the lowest possible level to prevent small matters from becoming larger and more difficult to resolve. An employee’s immediate supervisor should always have the first opportunity to address an employee’s concerns informally before the employee formally accesses the review system.

WV Code §6C-2-1, et. seq., or simply “the Grievance Procedure” provides a simple, expeditious, and fair process by which higher education employee concerns may be resolved. Nothing in the law however, prohibits the University or its employees from resolving problems outside of the grievance process.

Under WV Code §6C-2-1, et. seq., any full or part-time employee may file a grievance so long as it is timely and relates to an alleged violation, misapplication, or misinterpretation of a law, policy, rule, regulation, written agreement, recognized practice, or a matter of health and safety which occurs within the scope of employment. Matters outside the scope of the University’s authority or matters relating to pensions, retirement or health and other insurances are excluded from coverage under the grievance statute.

The formal grievance procedure provides for a three-step process with very specific timeframes which must be adhered to by both the grievant-employee and the respondent-college. Generally, an employee must file his /her grievance with the President of the institution or their designated representative on a form provided by the Grievance Board, within 15 days of the event upon which the grievance is based. An employee may have the assistance of one or more peers, employee organization representatives, legal counsel, or other persons in the preparation and/or presentation of the grievance at any step in the process.

Details of the relevant time frames and a copy of the various level grievance forms may be found at the following web site: https://pegb.wv.gov/Pages/default.aspx