For the first time, state employees will be able to have union stewards represent them in interviews where administrators are conducting investigations.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For the first time, state employees will be able to have union stewards represent them in interviews where administrators are conducting investigations.
A state Public Employees Grievance Board ruling issued last month concluded that if the official conducting an "investigatory interview" can decide disciplinary action, the employee can bring a union representative to the meeting.
In 2007, West Virginia streamlined its grievance procedures. New laws encouraged mediation and let employees have union representation before a dispute reached the grievance stage.
But some state agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Resources, didn't allow employees to bring a union representative to investigatory interviews.
Gordon Simmons, an organizer for West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170, said the ruling will "even the playing field" for public employees.
"We were really pleased with this," Simmons said. "We've had case after case, and DHHR is the worst example, where they pull people in and say, 'You don't need representation.'"
Simmons said employees don't always know their rights when they're called into a meeting with supervisors and can easily become intimidated.
"You could have four or five people in there, and they start grilling you," Simmons said. "It's very unnerving."
The 2007 legislation has improved the grievance process, especially because mediation helps defuse disputes, Simmons said.
But "without adequate representation," he said, "it's just words on the page."
About 30 percent of grievances are now resolved with mediation, according to the state Department of Administration.
DHHR spokesman John Law said the agency is revising its policy in response to the ruling.
"We've looked at the decision, and we're going to abide by it," he said.
Simmons said other agencies have also tried to block employees from getting representation, but called DHHR "the single biggest obstacle to representation rights."
Reach Alison Knezevich at
alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For the first time, state employees will be able to have union stewards represent them in interviews where administrators are conducting investigations.
A state Public Employees Grievance Board ruling issued last month concluded that if the official conducting an "investigatory interview" can decide disciplinary action, the employee can bring a union representative to the meeting.
In 2007, West Virginia streamlined its grievance procedures. New laws encouraged mediation and let employees have union representation before a dispute reached the grievance stage.
But some state agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Resources, didn't allow employees to bring a union representative to investigatory interviews.
Gordon Simmons, an organizer for West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170, said the ruling will "even the playing field" for public employees.
"We were really pleased with this," Simmons said. "We've had case after case, and DHHR is the worst example, where they pull people in and say, 'You don't need representation.'"
Simmons said employees don't always know their rights when they're called into a meeting with supervisors and can easily become intimidated.
"You could have four or five people in there, and they start grilling you," Simmons said. "It's very unnerving."
The 2007 legislation has improved the grievance process, especially because mediation helps defuse disputes, Simmons said.
But "without adequate representation," he said, "it's just words on the page."
About 30 percent of grievances are now resolved with mediation, according to the state Department of Administration.
DHHR spokesman John Law said the agency is revising its policy in response to the ruling.
"We've looked at the decision, and we're going to abide by it," he said.
Simmons said other agencies have also tried to block employees from getting representation, but called DHHR "the single biggest obstacle to representation rights."
Reach Alison Knezevich at
alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
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Don't get me wrong, if your not doing your job, because your lazy, you need to be fired, by using existing methods of documentation, counseling and increased disiplinary actions. Which anyone can look up.
If you are currently in this situation, take a union rep along but also buy a recorder at Radio Shack. For $70 it will record 512 hrs and easily fit into your shirt pocket. That way no one will forget any of the counseling being given, and, may just limit any attempted badgering.
It was partially granted and partially denied. The granted part was a right clearly afforded to state employees in the grievance statute. The denied portion is a HUGE loss to state employees, many who had the management convinced that this too was a right. Get the facts.
There is no excuse for any employee not knowing ALL workplace rules and regulations. It’s a matter of educating yourself and not expecting someone else to do it.