National Black Law Students Association National Grievance Policy NATIONAL BLACK LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION 2014-2015 NATIONAL GRIEVANCE POLICY OVERVIEW In accordance with the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA) National Constitution (Article VII, Section 1) and the National Bylaws, the National Grievance Committee has established the following grievance process. The grievance process consists of the following four steps: 1. An aggrieved party shall initiate the complaint by submitting a grievance
statement expressly articulating the conduct subject to grievance by the established timeline in this policy. 2. The complaint shall be reviewed by the National Parliamentarian for sufficiency of a genuine dispute and to determine a genuine violation or inconsistent interpretation/application of the NBLSA Constitution, Bylaws, policies, rules, and/or procedures. 3. Genuine issues of dispute and violations shall initiate the formal grievance process and shall include formal notification, by electronic mail, to all parties named, mandatory mediation, and a hearing in accordance with the established timeline in this policy. 4. The National Grievance Committee shall issue a written decision within the timeframe established in this policy. This decision is final and binding on all parties and is not subject to appeal. In establishing this grievance process, the National Grievance Committee seeks to assure NBLSA members that they have access to a mechanism to address their grievable issues swiftly, fairly, and without fear of reprisal. CONDUCT SUBJECT TO GRIEVANCE Please note that, the National Grievance Committee shall hear only grievances subject to a non-disciplinary remedy. Grievances that will be heard by the National Grievance Committee are limited to: • A violation or an inconsistent interpretation/application of the NBLSA Constitution and/or Bylaws; and/or • A violation or inconsistent interpretation/application of NBLSA policies, rules or procedures; or • Appeals of regional board decisions.1 COMMITTEE MEMBERS 1Pursuant to Article XII, Section 3 of the NBLSA Constitution, when action is taken under Article XII, a regional board member has the right to appeal to the National Executive Board. In appeals matters, the National Grievance Committee shall render decisions on the properness of regional board decisions, only; the National Grievance Committee shall not make a determination on genuineness of a dispute and/or a violation or inconsistent interpretation/application of the NBLSA Constitution, Bylaws, policies, rules, and/or procedures. 1
National Black Law Students Association National Grievance Policy The 2014-2015 National Grievance Committee is comprised of the following NBLSA National Board Members: MEMBERS APPOINTED BY DEFINITION National Vice-Chair (Chair) EX-OFFICIO MEMBER National Chair National Parliamentarian MEMBERS APPOINTED BY NATIONAL CHAIR National NMINC Director National TMMTC Director National Attorney General
Northeast Regional Chair Western Regional Chair
Mid-West Regional Chair A grievance filed against a committee member shall result in that committee member’s automatic recusal from proceeding regarding that grievance. In the event that there is a recusal of the Committee Chair, the remaining committee members will immediately elect an interim Chair from the remaining committee members to facilitate the grievance. Committee members are required to recuse themselves from grievance proceedings if they have any conflicting relationship or other conflict of interest that may impact their ability to remain neutral and objective during the proceedings. In the event that two (2) or more committee members recuse themselves from the proceedings, the National Chair shall appoint neutral interim members to the committee to be selected from the National Executive Board. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & ACCEPTANCE Participation in the grievance process constitutes acknowledgement, acceptance, and intent to comply in good faith with the NBLSA Grievance Policy and procedures. FILING YOUR GRIEVANCE All grievances submitted to the National Grievance Committee must be in writing using the National Grievance form available in the Appendix of this Policy. Speaking with a member of the National Grievance Committee does not constitute submission of a grievance. OFFICIAL GRIEVANCE STATEMENT All grievance forms must include a statement indicating the nature of and basis for the grievance. The statement must contain the following items: • • 2
The name and position of the NBLSA National Board Member(s) against whom the grievance is filed, if applicable; All specific provision(s) of the NBLSA Constitution and/or Bylaws or NBLSA policies, rules, or procedures at issue;
National Black Law Students Association National Grievance Policy • •
The resolution sought2; and A description of how the NBLSA member exhausted all other available resolution processes.
Failure to include any of the above components will result in an automatic dismissal of the grievance; the National Grievance Committee will not review it. The NBLSA member filing the grievance is responsible for identifying all issues and/or allegations relevant to the grievance in writing. No additional matters may be raised once the written grievance is submitted. SUBMISSION Grievances must be submitted no later than seven (7) days from date of the grievable incident, seven (7) days from the date the NBLSA member involved first knew or should have known of the grievable incident, or seven (7) days from the exhaustion of all other available resolution processes—whichever is later. Submission is to be made: 1) Via e-mail (as an attachment) to grievance@nblsa.org; or 2) By hand delivery to the National Grievance Committee Chair. In the event the grievance is against the National Grievance Committee Chair, delivery must be made: 1) Via e-mail (as an attachment) to secretary@nblsa.org; 2) By hand delivery to the National Secretary. Only grievances that contain a complete grievance statement will be accepted. The complaining party will be notified of the committee’s decision to review or reject the submitted grievance within 72 hours of its receipt. If applicable, notification of the grievance and allegations will be provided to the party against whom it is filed within 72 hours of notice to the complaining party. The defending party shall respond to notice of complaint within three (3) days; all answers should be submitted to the acting Grievance Committee Chair. MEDIATION The purpose of mediation is to provide a non-adversarial way of resolving grievances by use of an alternative dispute resolution process. The Chair of the National Grievance Committee will serve as the Mediator in all grievances. The Mediator will meet3 with the parties involved to attempt to mediate the grievance. Each party is responsible for making a good faith effort to mediate disputes, attending all mediations as scheduled by the Mediator, and notifying the Mediator in advance when circumstances prevent attendance. A complaining party that refuses to participate in 2 Resolutions sought shall only include non-disciplinary remedies. 3 Meetings may take place in person, or via telephone or web media conference . 3
National Black Law Students Association National Grievance Policy mediation does not attend a scheduled mediation, or otherwise fails to comply with the requirement to mediate may not proceed with the grievance process. Failure to mediate for any reason will result in the immediate dismissal of the claim. The Mediator will conclude the mediation attempt no later than seven (7) days after notification to the complaining party that the grievance has been accepted, or seven (7) days after the individual with whom the grievance is being filed against has filed an answer— whichever is later. At that time, the Mediator will prepare a written statement memorializing the agreement or indicating that no resolution could be reached. Statements will be retained on file for the use of future Grievance Committee actions. If no agreement can be reached in mediation, the National Grievance Committee will proceed with a hearing. HEARING Hearing Dates. After consulting with the parties involved, the National Grievance Committee will conduct a hearing4 at the earliest possible after the conclusion of the attempted mediation period. Materials. All parties may submit supporting documents and other materials. The materials must be submitted to the Chair of the Committee or her designee, who will submit all materials to the remaining members of the National Grievance Committee. Documents or other materials not received prior to the start of the hearing may be excluded from the grievance proceedings at the discretion of the National Grievance Committee. All supporting documents must relate only to the issues set forth in the original complaint. The National Grievance Committee must notify all parties if additional documents, materials, or clarification are needed. A request for additional materials may be made prior to and/or at the start of the hearing. Additional materials must be received within three (3) days of the request. Presentation. Both the filing party and the grieved party must be present at the hearing. Absence of filing party may result in dismissal of the grievance action. Dismissal on these grounds constitutes a final decision and is not appealable. Absence of the defending party may or may not result in a decision in favor of the filing party. Each party is responsible for presenting its case. The failure of any party to provide evidence or testimony under its control, which is requested by the committee, may be considered as a factor by the National Grievance Committee in reaching its determination. Where the credibility of a party or a witness is critical to the presentation of a side, salient portions of their testimony should be presented live. The hearing format is as follows:
4 Hearings may be conducted in person, or via telephone or web media conferencing. 4
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Each party is allowed maximum of 30 minutes 5 to present their side in chief. Each party will be afforded a maximum of five (5) minutes for an opening statement and a maximum of seven (7) minutes for a closing statement with the complaining party being allowed to reserve a portion of the closing statement time for rebuttal. The Chair of the Committee, or designee, will open the proceedings and keep the official time. The complaining party will proceed with the presentation of the case, present witnesses, if applicable, and respond to questions. The defending party will then be asked to present a defense, present witnesses, if applicable, and respond to questions. After both cases have been presented, parties will be asked to give a closing statement. If time has been reserved, the complaining party will give a rebuttal.
National Grievance Committee hearings are closed to spectators. Decision. The National Grievance Committee will issue a written decision 6 within seven (7) days of the hearing or within seven (7) days of the deadline for receipt of additional materials, whichever is later. The decision will be mailed to each party. Decisions are binding on both parties and not subject to appeal. Retention. The National Grievance Committee decisions and all documents submitted in connection with the complaint will be retained for the use of future grievance committees. QUESTIONS Please direct any questions about the grievance policy process to the National Parliamentarian at Parliamentarian@nblsa.org
5 Parties may file a request for additional time, up to a maximum of one hour; granting of additional time is at the discretion of the Committee Chair.
6 The National Vice-Chair shall not serve as a voting member in the final decision-making process. 5
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Appendix
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National Black Law Students Association National Grievance Policy GRIEVANT INFORMATION NAME _____________________________________________
DATE _____________________________________________
TITLE _____________________________________________
REGION
EMAIL ____________________________________________
PHONE
COMPLAINT INFORMATION Please indicate which conduct you are grieving: A violation or inconsistent interpretation/application of the NBLSA Constitution and/or Bylaws; A violation or inconsistent interpretation/application of the NBLSA policies, rules or procedures; or Appeal of a regional board decision Please provide the following: 1. The name and position of the NBLSA National Board Member(s) against whom the grievance is filed OR the region from which this appeal is being filed.
2. All specific provision(s) of the NBLSA Constitution and/or Bylaws or NBLSA policies, rules, or procedures at issue, if applicable:
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3. The resolution sought.
4. A description of how the NBLSA member exhausted all other available resolution processes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE I understand that participation in the grievance process constitutes acknowledgement, acceptance, and intent to comply in good faith with the NBLSA Grievance Policy and procedures. 8
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Grievant (please print) Grievant Signature
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Date