Senate Bill No. 158
(By Senators Hunter, Redd, Mitchell, Caldwell, Unger, Kessler
and Rowe)
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[Introduced February 16, 2001; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article six-a, chapter twenty-nine of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one-a; and to amend and reenact section four of said
article, all relating to providing an arbitration option for
state employees under the state employees' grievance
process; and providing findings.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six-a, chapter twenty-nine of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one-a; and that section four of said article be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6A. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
§29-6A-1a. Legislative findings.
(a) The Legislature created the West Virginia education
employees grievance board in the year one thousand nine hundred
eighty-five. In the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight,
the Legislature enlarged the board's jurisdiction by enacting a
grievance procedure for state employees.
(b) The board's mission statement is to equitably,
consistently and quickly resolve employment disputes between
employees and county boards of education, higher education
institutions, and state agencies so that good morale may be
maintained, effective job performance may be enhanced and the
citizens of this state may be better served.
(c) The Legislature finds that in response to the concern of
parties over rising costs and delays in deciding cases, the
citizens of our state would be well served by the creation of an
alternative method of dispute resolution at level four of the
grievance process.
(d) The Legislature finds that many states use the services
of the American arbitration association in resolving employee
grievances.
(e) The Legislature finds that the use of the expedited
labor rules of the American arbitration association will enhance
the ability of the board to accomplish its mission statement.
These procedures are intended to provide a simple, cost
effective, expeditious and fair process to resolve employee
grievances in the shortest amount of time.
§29-6A-4. Procedural levels and procedure at each level.
(a)
Level one.
Within ten days following the occurrence of the event upon
which the grievance is based, or within ten days of the date on
which the event became known to the grievant, or within ten days
of the most recent occurrence of a continuing practice giving
rise to a grievance, the grievant or the designated
representative, or both, may file a written grievance with the
immediate supervisor of the grievant. At the request of the
grievant or the immediate supervisor, an informal conference
shall be held to discuss the grievance within three days of the
receipt of the written grievance. The immediate supervisor shall issue a written decision within six days of the receipt of the
written grievance. If a grievance alleges discrimination or
retaliation by the immediate supervisor of the grievant, the
level one filing may be waived by the grievant and the grievance
may be initiated at level two with the administrator or his or
her designee, within the time limits set forth in this subsection
for filing a grievance at level one. A meeting may be held to
discuss the issues in dispute, but the meeting is not required.
(b)
Level two.
Within five days of receiving the decision of the immediate
supervisor, the grievant may file a written appeal to the
administrator of the grievant's work location, facility, area
office, or other appropriate subdivision of the department,
board, commission or agency. The administrator or his or her
designee shall hold a conference within five days of the receipt
of the appeal and issue a written decision upon the appeal within
five days of the conference.
(c)
Level three.
Within five days of receiving the decision of the
administrator of the grievant's work location, facility, area
office, or other appropriate subdivision of the department, board, commission or agency, the grievant may file a written
appeal of the decision with the chief administrator of the
grievant's employing department, board, commission or agency. A
copy of the appeal and the level two decision shall be served
upon the director of the division of personnel by the grievant.
The chief administrator or his or her designee shall hold a
hearing in accordance with section six of this article within
seven days of receiving the appeal. The director of the division
of personnel or his or her designee may appear at the hearing and
submit oral or written evidence upon the matters in the hearing.
The chief administrator or his or her designee shall issue
a written decision affirming, modifying or reversing the level
two decision within five days of the hearing.
(d)
Level four.
(1) If the grievant is not satisfied with the action taken
by the chief administrator or his or her designee, within five
days of the written decision the grievant may request, in
writing, on a form furnished by the employer, that the grievance
be submitted to a hearing examiner as provided for in section
five of this article
or that the grievance be submitted to
arbitration as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with section six of
this article within fifteen days following the request for the
hearing:
Provided, That the hearing may be held within thirty
days following the request, or within a time that is mutually
agreed upon by the parties, if the hearing examiner gives
reasonable cause, in writing, as to the necessity for the delay.
A copy of the appeal shall be served by the grievant upon the
director of the division of personnel. The director of the
division of personnel, or his or her designee, may appear at the
hearing and submit oral or written evidence upon the matters in
the hearing.
(2) Within thirty days following the hearing, the hearing
examiner shall render a decision in writing to all parties
setting forth findings and conclusions on the issues submitted.
Subject to the provisions of section seven of this article, the
decision of the hearing examiner is final upon the parties and is
enforceable in circuit court.
(3) Instead of submitting the grievance to a hearing
examiner, the grievant may, within five days of the level three
decision, notify the West Virginia division of personnel that the
grievant wishes to present the matter to an arbitrator from the American arbitration association. The division of personnel
shall notify the employer and the American arbitration
association of the grievant's request.
The grievance shall then be heard and decided by the most
expeditious procedure offered by the American arbitration
association. Should the grievant prevail in these proceedings
the employer shall reimburse the grievant all reasonable costs
paid by the grievant to the American arbitration association.
(e)
Expedited grievance process.
(1) A grievance involving suspension without pay, demotion
or dismissal or loss of wages may be initiated at level two with
the administrator of the grievant's work location, facility, area
office, or other appropriate subdivision of the department,
board, commission or agency.
(2) An employee may grieve a final action of the employer
involving a dismissal, demotion or suspension exceeding twenty
days directly to the hearing examiner. The expedited grievance
shall be in writing and shall be filed within ten days of the
date of the final action with the chief administrator and the
director of the division of personnel.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide an arbitration
option for state employees under the state employees' grievance
process.
§29-6A-1a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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