The proper way of challenging a violation of the CBA – be that
violation an unfair denial of tenure or promotion to a professor,
a failure to give a lecturer work to which he or she is entitled,
or an unjust discipline meted out against any employee – is to
file a grievance. The grievance procedure ends in binding
arbitration. This section includes information about recent
arbitration awards as well as on how to file a grievance.
An arbitrator last week awarded a significant victory to CFA when
he ordered the CSU Administration to promote a professor at
Sacramento State University.
While faculty have to undergo a grueling process to earn tenure,
high-level administrators and executives often receive tenure at
the time they are first appointed, sometimes without ever having
taught a single class, without ever having published a single
article, and without ever having been awarded a doctoral
degree.
Most grievances can be filed either as a “contractual” grievance or as a “statutory” grievance. If a grievance is filed as a contractual grievance, it is first heard by an arbitrator who renders a final and binding decision. If a grievance is instead filed as a statutory grievance, it is first heard by a Faculty Hearing Committee, which is comprised of three faculty members randomly selected from an elected pool. If the Faculty Hearing Committee denies the grievance, that decision is final and binding. If it sustains the grievance, that decision becomes final and binding only of the campus president agrees with it. If the campus president disagrees with the decision by the Faculty Hearing Committee, the grievance is heard by an arbitrator who renders a final and binding decision.
Previous collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) between CFA and CSU specified that an arbitrator could overturn a retention, tenure, or promotion (RTP) decision only if there was “clear and convincing evidence” of “prejudicial procedural error.” These CBAs further specified that the “normal remedy” for such prejudicial procedural error was a remand for reevaluation at the level at which the error occurred, and that tenure or promotion should be granted only in “extreme cases” in which it could be stated “with certainty” that but for the absence of “reasoned judgment,” tenure or promotion would have been granted and in which it could be demonstrated that “no other alternative” was “a practicable remedy.”
A Faculty Hearing Committee at San Francisco State has
unanimously recommended to campus president Robert Corrigan that
he reinstate the director of the School of Music & Dance. The
recommendation results from a statutory grievance brought under
the faculty union contract.
The director had been elected by the school’s faculty to a
three-year term but the Dean of the College of Creative Arts
“relieved” him of his duties mid-term without a faculty review.
It is your responsibility to properly file your grievance. CFA
will help, but it is necessary that you choose the track, sign
the grievance, file it on time and with the appropriate
administrator, and provide the information necessary to
understand and pursue a resolution of your problem. These forms
and resources will be helpful for anyone facing a grievance
situation.
It is your responsibility to properly file your grievance with the Administration and to choose between two distinct filing tracks available. CFA will help, but it is necessary that you choose the track, sign the grievance, file it on time and with the appropriate administrator, and provide the information necessary to understand and pursue a resolution of your problem.
Timely filing of your grievance is critical: within 42 days of the occurrence giving rise to your grievance or the time when it can reasonably be assumed you could have known of the problem.
