Nuts & Bolts: Grievance Committee Update
12/18/2023
Dear Colleague,
There are currently 2 formal grievances that the GC is working on (a ‘grievance’ is the process by which resolution of possible violations of your contract rights can occur; for more, we encourage you to read this FSU primer on the grievance procedure and this primer on contract and other rights). In addition to this formal grievance, the GC has spent countless hours on grievance and contract related matters with FSU members that have not resulted in formal grievances. These matters include: informal resolution of contract violations, apprising members of their contract rights, providing advice on and support for Title IX investigations, dismissal cases and other potential disciplinary hearings, attending Weingarten hearings (see below), attending GC meetings, assessing potential contract language issues for contract negotiations, and much more. Since the last update we sent to members on March 23, 2023, the GC has had at least 40 such cases/interactions with FSU members.
We would like to report on a few of the formal and informal pending grievance and contract related matters that we think are most relevant for members to be aware of. (For reasons of confidentiality, we cannot report on all the pending grievance and contract related matters that we are dealing with; click on the links below for further information on each grievance item listed).
In addition, we strongly urge you to familiarize yourself with Weingarten Rights - that is, your right to have a union witness present for any meeting with your supervisor that is of an investigatory nature or may have disciplinary repercussions (see the Grievance tab on the FSU website for more info, including a link to a more detailed MTA primer on Weingarten Rights).
Members who believe their contract rights have been violated have 60 days from the date of the infraction or 60 days from when they learned of or should have learned of the infraction to file a grievance (see Article 25 of the contract). Contact the FSU office if you have questions about your contract rights or if you think your contract rights may have been violated.
Previous grievance updates can be seen here.
From the FSU Grievance Committee:
Paul Dyson, Senior Lecturer III, English
Katie D’Urso, MTA Field Rep
Glover Martin, Lecturer, Biology
Laurie Milliken, Associate Professor, Exercise and Health Sciences
Lorenzo Nencioli, FSU Senior Staff Member
Heidi Stanish, Professor, Exercise and Health Sciences
FORMAL GRIEVANCES
CONTRACT RELATED ISSUES
Mandated Service Assignments For Tenure Track Faculty
Repayment Demanded By HR For Errant Over Compensation Of Members
Research Intensive Semester- Counting Prior Course Releases?
UPDATES ON PREVIOUS CASES
Course Release Eligibility for Full Time Senior Lecturer II’s
Discipline of A Member Enacted Without Due Process