1. The employee has the
right to file a complaint at any time during 15 days from the date of
occurrence or the employees knowledge of the occurrence of the issue being
grieved.
The employee should first inform their supervisor of any complaint, either
verbally or informally.
2. If the employee is not
satisfied that the complaint has been sufficiently addressed at this level, the
employee may choose to file a formal grievance. This formal grievance must be
presented in writing to the employees supervisor within five business days of the informal discussion of
complaint.
3. The employees supervisor will then document a response to the employee within five
business days of receipt of the written grievance. The supervisor or a
representative from Human Resources will also inform the employee of the employees right to appeal to senior management if the employee is not satisfied
with the response.
4. If the employee is not
satisfied with this response, the employee may choose to forward both the
written grievance and the written response to the supervisor of the employees
supervisor, typically a Program Director. If the next level of management is
the Executive Director, then the process moves to item #6 below. This must be
done within five business days of receipt of the written response to the
grievance.
5. �� The Program Director will then document a
response to the employee within five business days of receipt of the written
grievance. The Program Director or HR will also inform the employee of the employees right to appeal to the Executive Director if the employee is not satisfied with the
response. If the employee is not satisfied with this response, the employee may
chose to forward both the written grievance and the written response to the
Executive Director.
6. The Executive Director
may review these documents, meet with concerned employees and supervisors as
appropriate, gather information as needed, and document a response to the
employee within ten business days of receipt of the written grievance. The
Executive Director's decision will be final in all grievances except
for those that involve the Executive Director as a direct party to the
grievance, in which case the Board of Directors will make the final decision
7. This policy does not
preclude the employee from pursing other avenues of relief to address the
complaint to include the Maine Human Rights Commission, the Department of
Labor, the Department of Human Services' Licensing, the Department of Human
Services' Child or Adult Emergency Services, the Federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission or other appropriate local, state or federal regulatory
entities.