In a move to more strongly encourage management and employees to work together to resolve work-related issues, UAB’s nonfaculty employee grievance procedure has been revised and renamed.

The Problem Resolution Procedure for Nonfaculty Employees will go into effect Sept. 1, said Chief Human Resources Officer Cheryl Locke.

“One of UAB’s key goals is create a positive, supportive, and diverse work environment in which faculty and staff can excel,” said Locke. “As part of that, the Human Resource Management (HRM) department works to foster a workplace that promotes fairness and that can promptly and impartially address employee work concerns, which is why this procedure is in place.

“We think the changes in it will go a long way toward building trust and fostering open dialogue, and we are excited to be implementing them,” she said.

One key change in the procedure is that all employees now will be asked to first attempt to resolve work-related issues at the department level. If such issues cannot be resolved within the department by the employee and supervisor (working with their HRM consultant or an HRM Relations representative), then eligible employees with qualifying complaints will have access to an impartial review by the Problem Resolution Committee.

The Problem Resolution Committee will consist of three members who will all be randomly drawn from a pool of 50-60 eligible employees. This differs from the past practice of requiring the employee and management to each solicit a committee member to be a part of a three-member committee. All employees serving on the committee will receive training related to the procedure.
 
To view the full revised policy (“Problem Resolution Procedure for Nonfaculty Employees”), please visit the HRM Web site and click on the link.