AR Handbook – 31
What steps should be followed
in filing grievances?
Many problems with contract
enforcement can be remedied by
prompt, informal action at the
building or department level. An
alert AR can prevent small violations
from becoming a crisis by using his/
her own initiative.
If additional action is necessary to
protect your contract, steps provided
in your grievance procedure should
be followed.
(Does your association need training
in contract enforcement? NJEA
offers a training package, available
from your NJEA/NEA Regional
Office.)
Grievances
Grievance Authority
The contract embodies terms and
conditions of employment, and benefits
and rights to protect members
individually and the association collectively.
It is an agreement between
the board and the association concerning
the rights and obligations
of each party within the boundaries
established by law.
The law which gives public employees
the right to negotiate is the NJ
Employer-Employee Relations Act,
(NJSA 34:13A-1 to NJSA 34:13A-29
as amended through Jan. 4,1990) It
provides:
A majority representative of public
employees in an appropriate unit
shall be entitled to act for and to
negotiate agreements covering all
employees in the unit and shall be
responsible for representing the interests
of all such employees without
discrimination and without regard
to employee organization membership.
Proposed new rules or modification
of existing rules governing
working conditions shall be negotiated
with the majority representative
before they are established. In
addition, the majority representative
and designated representatives of
the public employer shall meet at
reasonable times and negotiate in
good faith with respect to grievances,
disciplinary disputes, and other
terms and conditions of employment.
Nothing herein shall be
construed as permitting negotiation
of standards or criteria for employee
performance.
When an agreement is reached on
the terms and conditions of employment,
it shall be embodied in
writing and signed by the authorized
representatives of the public employer
and the majority representative.
Public employers shall negotiate
written policies setting forth grievance
and disciplinary review procedures
by means of which their
employees or representatives of
employees may appeal the interpretation,
application, or violation of
policies, agreements and administrative
decisions, including disciplinary
determinations affecting them, that
such grievance and disciplinary
review procedures shall be included
in any agreement entered into
between the public employer and the
representative organization. Such
grievance and disciplinary review
procedures may provide for binding
arbitration as a means for resolving
disputes. The procedures agreed to
by the parties may not replace or be
inconsistent with any alternate statutory
appeal procedure nor may they
provide for binding arbitration of a
dispute involving the discipline of
employees with statutory protection
under tenure or civil service laws.
Grievance and disciplinary review
procedures established by agreement
between the public employer and
the representative organization shall
be utilized for any dispute covered
by the terms of such agreement.
L. 1968, c.303, (7, eff. July 1, 1968,
amended by L. 1974, c. 123)4
The local association, therefore, has
a responsibility to all members of the
bargaining unit to manage skillfully
the grievance proceedings to ensure
that the rights of members are not
compromised. This responsibility
is often referred to as a fiduciary
responsibility. Additionally, the local
association can continually reinforce
the confidence of the members in
the organization by effective problem
solving and grievance adjudication.
The responsibilities of exclusive
recognition under NJSA 34:13A-1 et
seq. are probably more acute in the
area of grievance processing than in
any other activity of the association.
The law provides that the association
“... shall represent the interests ...” of
all personnel in the bargaining unit.
Because of this provision, no decisions
relative to a grievance may be
made with regard to whether or not
the affected employees are members
of the association. Furthermore, as a
responsible advocate of the interests
of its constituents, the association
must protect the rights of the individual
employees. These individual
rights must be weighed with due
consideration for the interests of the
bargaining unit as a whole. The integrity
of the contract must be protected.
Most of the time, the interests
of the individual are the same as the
interest of the group; however, when
there is a conflict, it is the responsi