Sebastian County OKs new grievance policy

The personnel manual for county employees has been updated following a vote authorizing the new manual at last night's Sebastian County Quorum Court meeting.

County Judge David Hudson said the new manual has been in the works for a long time and has been reviewed by multiple attorneys, including Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue, who also serves as legal counsel to the Quorum Court.

In the new updated manual, Hudson said employees would not notice many changes.

"I think that there is some clarification on some of the laws that had been implemented in the last 15 years in regard to (the Family Medical Leave Act), the use of technology (in the workplace) and how we have policies that relate to the use of technology."

The biggest change employees will notice, Hudson said, is a revised grievance hearing procedure. The previous procedure included a committee of three members, according to County Human Resources Director Steve Hotz. That committee was made up of two members of the private sector appointed by the county judge and approved by the Quorum Court, he said. The third member was a member of the Quorum Court.

"(The appointed committee members would) just be people out in (the) business (community) in general that would have an understanding of dealing with employees and employment law," Hotz said.

According to the new handbook, the committee will no longer be a part of the grievance procedures. Instead, the new policy follows the employee's chain of command, Hudson said.

"The grievance procedures would be what you would typically see in most grievance processes – a chain of command."

Under the new grievance hearing procedure, a county employee wishing to file a grievance must follow four steps:
1. "The aggrieved employee shall bring the grievance in writing to the attention of his/her supervisor within three (3) business days of the occurrence of an event giving rise to a grievance…"

2. "If no settlement is reached in Step 1, the aggrieved employee may seek further review by referring said grievance in writing to the department head, or designee, within five (5) business days following receipt of the Step 1 decision…"

3. "If no settlement is reached in Step 2, the aggrieved employee may seek further review by referring said grievance in writing to the Human Resources Director, or designee, within five (5) business days of receipt of the decision in Step 2…"

4. "If no settlement is reached in Step 3, the aggrieved employee may appeal by referring said grievance in writing to the County Judge, or designee, within five (5) business days of receipt of the Step 3 decision."

If an employee is terminated, the new manual states that steps one and two may be skipped and a written grievance may be submitted to the human resources director.

The change comes about a year and a half after a grievance committee was used to reinstate the employment of two women in the circuit clerk's office. The women, Tyanna Caldwell and Cassie Vega, were fired by then-Circuit Clerk Ken Blevins, who Caldwell and Vega accused of creating a hostile work environment. Two other women, Jean Austin and Lynsey Shockley, later sued Blevins in U.S. District Court for sexual harassment, defamation and creating a hostile work environment.

When asked what influence the Blevins situation had on changes to the personnel manual, Hudson said changes were already in the works before the employees in Blevins office had their case heard before the committee.

"We've been working on the revision that was in process when Ken Blevins was the circuit clerk. This review was initiated prior to all of those issues arising in the circuit clerk's office," he said. "This is not a reaction to that. This preceded that matter."

Hotz said the changes should resolve grievance complaints for employees in a faster, more responsive manner that he said would be beneficial for county workers.

"It's basically three levels of reviews. We feel like it is better, that we can be more timely with it," he said, adding that assembling a committee that included three individuals with other jobs outside of county government slowed down the process.

"(The goal is) to get a quicker response. That was a big reason for doing it the way we've changed it."