From the Grievance Committee …

Settlements Reached in Grievance Matters

Despite a never-ending list of grievances which gets larger every month, the Professional Rights and Responsibilities (Grievance) Committee struggles on to achieve just resolutions to P.E.A. members' complaints.

As a result of the hard work of the Committee, led by P.E.A. 1st Vice-President Jim Joyner and co-chairs Luis Del Gado (JFK) and John Mc Entee (# 20), several grievances were recently brought to successful conclusion.

In grievance 05-20, the Association argued that the District's unilateral imposition of an attendance cut off of ten accumulated sick days for direct deposit of pay checks was a violation of the contract. P.E.A. also contended that any such change should have been negotiated between the Association and the District.

As is the case with most issues, the District insisted they were in the right, and refused to negotiate. Instead the District cried that staff members were using up all of their sick days, collecting salary for days they didn't have, and then skipping out on the district leaving with money they hadn't earned. No proof of any such cases was presented.

However, when the case came to the panel arbitrator, the District did provide evidence that they needed time to prevent these alleged actions from occurring. As a result of meditative efforts by the arbitrator a settlement of the grievance was reached. As a result, direct deposit will be halted anytime a member has five (5) or fewer accumulated days will be halted. Further, employees to be removed from the direct deposit program shall be notified of the removal when the District initiates action. Said notice shall be provided by fax to the employee's worksite within 24 hours of the District's decision. The arbitrator retained jurisdiction over any disagreements which might arise as a result of this settlement.

In another agreement, the District agreed to place a staff member in back into a promotional position from which the Association alleged she had been improperly removed. The employee also received retroactive payments reflecting the wages lost when the improper removal took place.

Additional salary payments were also paid to P.E.A. members who had mentored new staff members last school year but had not been paid for these services. The settlement in this case also reinforced the state law, which had also been violated by the administration, which requires differentiated payments based upon the mentoring of new staff members with Certificates of Eligibility (CE) versus those with Certificates of Eligibility with Advanced Standing (CEAS). It also pointed out how important it is for staff members to know the rules regarding mentoring before they become mentors.

Payments for Class Coverage Compensation also were made as a result of actions by the Committee with payments for CCC being paid when cases were listed for arbitration, or settled during Level Two hearings. Payments from forty dollars to over six hundred dollars in claims resolved issues for P.E.A. members. Additionally, the settlements supported the Association's contentions that class coverage remains a viable part of the contract, payment of which is a right of staff members who might lose preparation time, or be required to work in a position different than their regular assignment.

The PR&R Committee tries to list four (4) grievances for hearing each month. NJEA UniServ representatives Sasha Wolf and Rich Loccke, along with Joyner and President Pete Tirri make decisions about the cases to be presented based upon the estimated time that such issues should take at hearing.