527     Staff Complaints and Grievances

The School Board shall provide for the orderly resolution of employee grievances related to discipline, termination, and workplace safety.  The exclusive means of resolving employee grievances shall be through the grievance procedure adopted by the Board.  Any employee of the District has the right of access to the grievance procedure.

A determined effort shall be made to settle any grievance at the lowest possible level and the grievance procedure rule will incorporate this requirement. The procedure shall also include an opportunity for employees to present their grievance before an impartial hearing officer. 

In the event a grievance cannot be settled by the Administration and the employee requests a hearing with an impartial hearing officer, the District Administrator will designate the hearing officer in accordance with the following guidelines:

• The hearing officer shall be impartial.
• The hearing officer shall be (1) an attorney who is licensed to practice in the State of Wisconsin; (2) a current or former school administrator, who is familiar with school district operations, as well as procedures for conducting a fair and impartial hearing; or (3) any other person whom the Board of Education may determine to be qualified to serve as an impartial hearing officer.
• The hearing officer must be available to hear the case and render a decision in a timely manner within the time period established by Board rule.
• The hearing officer may not be an employee of the district.
• The hearing officer must agree to comply with all relevant laws, to include in particular those governing employment and student records.

The procedure shall provide for grievances to be handled in a timely manner and shall contain an appeals process in which the highest level of appeal is the Board of Education. 

For the purposes of this grievance procedure, the following definitions shall apply:

A.        “Workplace safety” means those conditions related to physical health and safety of employees enforceable under federal or state law, or District rule related:  the physical work environment, the safe operation of workplace equipment and tools, provision of protective equipment, training, warning requirements, workplace violence and accident risk.

B.        “Termination” does not include a job transfer, demotion or termination of   employment as the result of layoff, following reduction in the size of the work force or eliminating of a position(s).

C.        “Employee discipline” refers to oral reprimands when a written record of the reprimand is placed in the employee’s file, written reprimands and unpaid suspensions, but excludes performance conferences/evaluations, paid administrative leave, job re-assignment, demotions, transfers, changes in job duties, and work performance improvement plans.

Legal Ref.:      Open Meetings Law – Wisconsin Statutes 19.81-19.88
                        Civil Service Protection and Grievance Procedure – Wisconsin Statute 66.0509(1m)
Cross Ref.:      112 - Equity
                        411.1 - Harassment
                        511 - Equal Employment Opportunities
                        511.1-Rule, Equal Employment Discrimination Complaint Procedures

Approved:      8-16-11
Revised:          9-18-12