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Meeting
With the Grievant
You, the Job Rep, receive a call from a very
upset member asking for representation. After
briefly hearing what the issues are, you
determine that you need to speak further with
the member privately, in person, and as soon as
possible.
You notify your supervisor
that you need to investigate a possible
grievance. Your supervisor wants the name of the
potential grievant and where he/she works. You
tell your supervisor that you can not divulge
that information.
Your supervisor then asks how long you will be
away from your job. The General Government and
Higher Education CBAs states that notification
of your supervisor “…will include the
approximate amount of time the representative
expects the activity to take. Any agency/college
business requiring the employee’s immediate
attention will be completed prior to attending
the meeting.”
You respond that you won’t
know until you’ve had a chance to sit down with
the potential grievant and hear his/her story.
Your supervisor then tells you that you have one
hour. What do you do?
You meet with the potential
grievant in an attempt to document who, what,
when, and where. You also find out if there are
witnesses. Your hour is about up and you’re
slowly getting a clear picture of what happened
after having spent most of your time calming the
member down. You then call your boss and tell
him/her that you’ll need more time.
Your boss tells you to return
to work as you only have the hour as originally
granted. You can tell your boss you’ll obey, but
once back at your worksite, you’ll then ask to
be released again to finish your job.
Once again, “…Any agency/college business
requiring the employee’s immediate attention
will be completed prior to attending the
meeting.”
What has happened in the hour
that you’ve been gone that requires your
immediate attention? That might be enough to
convince him/her to be reasonable and grant
adequate time. If your boss insists that you
return, do so, but notify WPEA immediately! It’s
better to obey and then grieve later.
Not granting you, the Job Rep,
the necessary time to correctly investigate
potential grievances places WPEA in a position
where it violates its DUTY OF FAIR
REPRESENTATION. |
