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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInternal Complaints Procedures County of Hawaii Department of Human Resources Procedures Division: Labor Relations Effective Date: March 1, 2015 Subject: Internal Complaint Procedures References: Rules of the Director, Chapter 6, Internal complaint procedures; Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Section 104-1, Appeals to the Board; Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Section 104-2, Filing of appeal; Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 76-1 1, Definitions; Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 76-41, Performance appraisal systems; failure to meet performance requirements; Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 76-42, Internal complaint procedures; Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 89-6, Appropriate bargaining units Purpose: To outline the County's internal complaint procedures for employees and members of the general public POLICY Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 76-42, Internal complaint procedures, requires that the Director promulgate a uniform plan for the creation of internal complaint procedures in the various departments under the jurisdiction of the County's Merit Appeals Board. Rules of the Director, Chapter 6, Internal complaint procedures, further requires that the Director promulgate uniform County-wide internal complaint procedures in conformance with Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 76-42. These procedures afford employees and members of the general public the opportunity to file internal complaints and have them addressed as informally as possible in a timely and uniform manner. Complaints may concern personnel and other actions affecting employees and members of the general public. These procedures supersede all existing policies and procedures within the County regarding internal complaint procedures. DEFINITIONS "Appointing authority" means a department head or designee having the power to make appointments or changes in the status of employees. "County" means the County of Hawai'i. 1 "Day" means calendar day unless otherwise specified. "Decision maker" means a division head, appointing authority, Mayor, or Council Chair, as applicable. "Director" means the Director of Human Resources. "Employee" means any person holding a position in the service of the County, irrespective of status or type of appointment; provided that, if the context clearly applies only to an employee who is a member of the civil service, "employee" means a civil service employee. "Retaliation" means any adverse action that would dissuade a reasonable employee or member of the general public from filing a complaint or cooperating in an investigation. APPLICABILITY AND USE I. These procedures shall apply when filing complaints related to the following subject matters: A. Civil service recruitment/examination (i.e., actions taken in locating applicants for employment, in receiving applications, in referring eligible applicants for employment consideration, or evaluating an applicant, including the initial probationary period); B. Civil service classification/reclassification (i.e., actions taken in assigning a civil service position to a class based on the kind and level of work performed and knowledge, qualifications, and skills required); C. Initial pricing of civil service classes (i.e., actions taken in assigning a new class to a pay grade); D. Other employment actions taken under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 76, including disciplinary actions and other actions for failure to meet performance requirements taken against civil service employees who are excluded from collective bargaining coverage under Hawaii Revised Statutes, Section 89-6; and 2 E. Other employment actions taken under any law, rule, regulation, or policy that are not covered by grievance procedures within collective bargaining agreements. II. Employees and members of the general public may use these procedures in the following manner: A. Any employee may file a complaint relating to I.A., civil service recruitment/examination through LE, other employment actions. B. Any member of the general public may file a complaint relating to I.A., civil service recruitment/examination. C. Only an employee covered by Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 76 who is excluded from collective bargaining coverage under Hawai'i Revised Statutes, Section 89-6 may file a complaint relating to I.D., other employment actions taken under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 76. III. If a complaint involves a matter not within a decision maker's ability to act or is subject to a collective bargaining agreement's grievance procedure, the complainant shall be notified accordingly and the complaint shall be returned to the complainant. IV. If a complainant wishes to dispute that the complaint is not subject to the jurisdiction of these procedures, the complainant shall be instructed to submit the matter to the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board pursuant to the Board's rule of practice and procedure. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS I. These procedures shall be exhausted before an appeal is filed with the Merit Appeals Board, except as may be provided in SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS below. II. In presenting complaints, complainants shall be assured freedom from coercion, discrimination, and retaliation. 3 III. A complainant shall have the right to be represented by a person or persons of the complainant's choosing at any stage in the presentation of the complaint. IV. By written mutual agreement, time limits within each step of this procedure may be extended. V. Whenever possible, a complainant shall be interviewed to ascertain the details of a complaint. The interview and subsequent steps taken to respond to the situation shall be documented. VI. A complainant shall be notified of an investigation's progress in writing at reasonable intervals whenever a decision maker or designee is unable to complete an investigation within the time periods allotted by these procedures. VII. Whenever possible, all proceedings relating to a complaint filed by a member of the general public shall be conducted during the hours of 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (HST), Monday through Friday, at times convenient to the complainant. All proceedings relating to the handling of employee complaints shall be conducted during the employee's work hours. VIII. Requests for any relevant information by a complainant to investigate and process a complaint shall be in writing. Upon receipt, the complainant shall be furnished the information within seven days, provided that the information does not violate the privacy rights of other individuals. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS I. For initial allocation, reallocation, position redescription, and initial pricing issues, the filing of the formal complaint at Step 1 of these procedures shall be considered a request for an administrative review by the Director as provided by Chapter 4 of the Rules of the Director. Appeals from an administrative review shall be in accordance with the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Sections 104-1 and 104-2. 4 II. For a complaint relating to an action taken by the Director relating to I.A., civil service recruitment/examination, the formal complaint shall be filed directly with the Merit Appeals Board in accordance with the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Sections 104-1 and 104-2. PROCEDURES I. Filing a Complaint A. A complaint shall be presented to the appropriate decision maker within twenty days after the occurrence of the alleged violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication of a specific law, rule, regulation, or policy. B. If it concerns an alleged continuing violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication, then the complaint shall be presented within twenty days after the alleged violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication first became known or should have become known to the complainant involved. C. Computation of time to present a complaint shall be in accordance with the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Section 101-8. II. Informal Step- Division head A. A complaint shall, whenever possible, be discussed informally between a complainant and the complainant's division head. If a complainant is a member of the public, the complaint shall, whenever possible, be discussed informally between the complainant and the appropriate division head having jurisdiction over the issue of the complaint. The informal discussion shall be held within time limitations provided in I. under PROCEDURES. B. The division head shall render a written decision on the informal complaint within seven days from the date of the informal discussion. The written decision shall contain the following: 5 I) Notification that, should the complainant be dissatisfied with the results of the Informal Step, a complaint at Step 1 must be filed within seven days from the date of receipt of the informal written decision; and 2) A copy of the attached Form DHR-LR-001 (for all complaints under these procedures). III. Step 1 -Appointing authority A. If a complainant is not satisfied with the results of the Informal Step, the complainant may submit a written statement of the complaint to the appointing authority. The complaint shall be submitted on the attached Form DHR-LR-01, within seven days from the date of receipt of the informal decision. B. If the complainant does not use the Informal Step of the procedure, the complainant shall submit the written statement of the complaint to the appointing authority within the time limitation provided in I. under PROCEDURES. C. Within seven days after receipt of the complaint at Step 1, the appointing authority shall offer the complainant an opportunity to meet as soon as possible. D. Within seven days after the Step 1 meeting, the appointing authority shall respond to the complaint in writing. The written decision shall contain notification that: 1) The complainant may appeal the Step 1 decision to either the Mayor or Council Chair, as appropriate, should the complainant be dissatisfied with the Step 1 decision; and 2) The appeal to either the Mayor or Council Chair, as appropriate, must be submitted via letter within seven days after the receipt of the Step 1 decision. 6 IV. Step 2- Offices of the Mayor or Council Chair A. A Step 2 appeal that originated from the County's Executive Branch shall be filed with the Mayor or designee, whereas a Step 2 appeal that originated from the County's Legislative Branch shall be filed with the Council Chair or designee. B. If a complainant is not satisfied with the results of the complaint at Step 1, the complainant may appeal the Step 1 decision at Step 2 within seven days from the date of the receipt of the Step 1 decision. C. Within seven days after receipt of the appeal at Step 2, the complainant shall be offered an opportunity to meet as soon as possible. D. Within seven days after the Step 2 meeting, the complainant shall receive a written response. V. Step 3-Merit Appeals Board A. If the subject matter of a complaint relates to an employment action taken under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 76, including disciplinary actions and other actions for failure to meet performance requirements taken against employees who are excluded from collective bargaining, the complainant may appeal either the Mayor's or Council Chair's decision to the Merit Appeals Board in accordance with the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Sections 104-1 and 104-2. B. A copy of the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board or a Merit Appeals Board appeal form may be obtained from the County of Hawaii Department of Human Resources website http://www.hawaiicountyaov/human-resources/ or at the Merit Appeals Board office location provided in the Rules of the Merit Appeals Board, Section 100-5. C. For the purposes of filing the appeal to the Merit Appeals Board, the date of receipt of either the Mayor's or Council Chair's decision shall be considered the date of receipt of notice of the action. 7 D. If the subject matter of a complaint is not within the jurisdiction of the Merit Appeals Board, either the Mayor's or Council Chair's decision shall be final and binding on all persons concerned. ATTACHMENT Internal Complaint Procedures Form DHR-LR-001 8 D H R-L R-001 (03/01/15) COUNTY OF HAWAI`I INTERNAL COMPLAINT FORM Complainant Name (Last,First,Middle Initial) Employee ❑ Member of the Public ❑ County Employment Information,if Applicable (Position Title,Department,Division) Mailing Address (Street,City,State,Zip) ❑ Pursuant to the County of Hawai`i's Internal Complaint Procedures, a formal complaint is hereby submitted. I attempted to resolve this complaint through the informal stage of the procedure on with Date ❑ I did not attempt to resolve this complaint informally, because: A. Statement of Complaint 1. Date of action or incident giving rise to this complaint: 2. Law, Rule, Regulation, Policy or Procedure allegedly violated: (listed below) 3. Nature of complaint: (provide an explanation of the complaint-attach additional sheets as necessary) B. Remedy Sought (Indicate below) C. Certification I certify that the above information is true and accurate. Signature of Complainant Date Hawaii County is an Eq-ttaCOyyortunity Provider and Emyloyer