Grievance Page
Currently we have no active grievance's here in Derby.
What is a grievance?
According to Article III of the Teacher's Contract (Grievance Procedure), a grievance is defined as a:
A grievance shall mean a complaint by an employee that:
If you feel you have been wronged, you should read the following to understand if your situation is considered a gripe or a grievance.
A grievance shall mean a complaint by an employee that:
- He / She has been treated unfairly or inequitably.
- There has been an alleged violation, misinterpretation, misapplication, or infringement upon the provisions of this Agreement.
If you feel you have been wronged, you should read the following to understand if your situation is considered a gripe or a grievance.
If you do believe you have a credible grievance, getting it settled is time-sensitive. The longer you wait to bring the issue up, the more common that the problem may not get solved.
The most important things to understand are :
The most important things to understand are :
- that the goal of solving any dispute is to solve it with the lowest form of authority and work our way up.
- the only way for a grievance to be credible is if there is language in the contract supporting your claim.
- no reprisals of any kind shall be taken by administration against any participants in the grievance procedure.
- keep a paper trail of all materials pertaining to this concern to help keep a record of what has happened.
Grievance Procedure
- The first step is to bring the problem to your Building Representative. They can join you while you speak with your administrator to talk about your dispute.
- After the meeting, the administrator may take up to 5 school days to come up with a resolution. If after the 5 school days, you aren't happy with the result or there is no resolution given, you can choose to inform the Grievance Chair of the situation.
- The Grievance Chair will contact you so they could get all the information together to bring it back to the Grievance Committee.
- The committee will write an official grievance letter and submit it to your administrator within 5 schools days. The administrator will have 5 school days to respond to the grievance letter and schedule a meeting.
- After the meeting is completed, the administrator will have 5 school days to submit a response, in writing, to the committee.
- If the matter isn't resolved to the satisfaction of the employee, or if no resolution is given, the grievance will be presented to the Superintendent of Schools. They will have 10 schools day to respond to the grievance letter and schedule a meeting.
- After the meeting is completed, the Superintendent of Schools will have 10 school days to submit a response in writing to the committee.
- If the matter isn't resolved to the satisfaction of the employee, or if no resolution is given, the grievance will be presented to the Board of Education. They will have 20 schools day to respond to the grievance letter and schedule a meeting.
- After the meeting is completed, the Board of Education will have 10 school days to submit a response in writing to the committee.
- In the event a grievance is not settled, and with the approval of the Derby Education Association, may proceed to arbitration, which may be binding subject to the limitations of the statute.
- During arbitration, the DEA's Grievance Committee will work with the CEA Legal Committee to help you while they prepare for the meeting with the Arbitrator.
If you have any other questions, contact your Grievance Chair or your Building Representative on the Contact Us page.