Grievances and How to File A Grievance

What is a Grievance?

A grievance is a complaint, claim, or dispute arising under the current contract. Grievances are limited to matters of interpretation or application of provisions of the contract, except for a few provisions that are specifically excluded from the grievance procedure.

*We recommend talking to your TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership and or Staff if you need clarification on what is or is not a grievance. 

What is an Example of a Grievance?

Let’s say an administrator/supervisor directs you to work through your lunch. This is a specific Contract Violation of the following provisions of the contract.  Specifically:

K-12 Article V Days & Hours – Workday A #8  –  “All unit members shall be entitled to the statutory minimum duty-free lunch period of thirty (30) minutes.”

CDC/ HS Article V Days & Hours – CDC Workday Section C #1  – “Full-time CDC teachers shall be employed for eight (8) hours a day, inclusive of thirty (30) minute duty-free lunch period, preparation time, and breaks.”

CDC/ HS Article V Days & Hours – Head Start Section H #2 – “Full-time Head Start teachers are employed for eight (8) hours a day, including preparation time and breaks, exclusive of a thirty (30) minute duty-free lunch period.”

How Do I File A Grievance?

TALB has two contracts representing K-12 bargaining unit members and CDC/HS bargaining unit members.

The K-12 Contract – Article XIII Grievance Procedure explains the definitions and steps.

The CDC/HS Contract – Article XII Grievance Procedure explains the definitions and steps.

The first step is to speak to a TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership or TALB staff. This will help you in determining if a grievance (a contractual break) has occurred. The Association may have a record of similar grievances.

If a contractual grievance is determined, the grievance process requires an informal grievance. For the informal level we recommend emailing your immediate manager for the purposes of keeping record. However, you may have an informal conference. If you choose to have an informal conference, a summary of the conference should be emailed for record keeping.

Informal Level

1. Within twenty (20) days after the alleged violation (except for payroll errors) and before filing a formal written grievance, the grievant shall attempt to resolve his/her claim by an informal conference with his/her immediate manager.  If the employee requests, an Association representative may participate with the employee in the informal conference.  It shall be the grievant’s responsibility to inform the immediate manager that the conference is for the purpose of seeking to resolve the grievance at the informal level.
2. The immediate manager shall provide a response within five (5) days of the informal conference.

When meeting with the immediate manager, have specificity around identifying the grievance and a proposed remedy.
Please keep your TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership and/or TALB Staff apprised of the outcome of the informal grievance.

Formal Level – Step 1

Within ten (10) days of the informal conference, should the grievance not be resolved, the grievant shall present his/her grievance in writing on the District Certificated Unit Grievance Form (Download Grievance Form Step 1 Fillable PDF) to his/her immediate manager.

1. The statement of the grievance shall be a clear, concise statement of the circumstances giving rise to the grievance, shall include the specific article, section, and paragraph of the contract allegedly misapplied, misinterpreted, or violated, and shall specify the remedy sought.
2. The immediate manager shall communicate the decision to the employee in writing within ten (10) days after receiving the grievance or within five (5) days following a conference.

Please keep your TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership and or TALB Staff apprised of the outcome of the informal grievance – the TALB Grievance Committee should be looped in.

Formal Level – Step 2

Upon receipt of the Step 1 response, and if the decision of the immediate manager is not satisfactory, the grievant, within ten (10) days of receipt of the response may file an appeal with Employee Relations Services which shall transmit it to the Superintendent or to  another district-level manager designated by the Superintendent. (Download Grievance Form Step 2 Fillable PDF) 

1. The statement of the grievance shall be a clear, concise statement of the circumstances giving rise to the grievance, shall include the specific article, section, and paragraph of the contract allegedly misapplied, misinterpreted, or violated, and shall specify the remedy sought.
2. The grievant or the respondent (Superintendent or designee) may request a personal conference regarding the grievance.  The respondent shall communicate his/her decision in writing to the grievant within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the appeal or within five (5) days following a conference.

Please keep your TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership and or TALB Staff apprised of the outcome of the informal grievance – the TALB Grievance Committee should be looped in.

Formal Level – Step 3: Mediation

If the grievant is not satisfied with the decision at Step 2, he/she may within ten (10) days after receipt of the decision at Step 2, submit to  Employee Relations Services a written request for mediation of the grievance. (Download Grievance Form Step 3 Fillable PDF) Employee Relations Services shall within five (5) days after receipt of the written request submit to the California State Conciliation Service a request for the immediate services of a mediator. The parties agree that Step 3 of this Grievance Procedure may be waived by mutual agreement of the grievant and the District.

1. The function of the mediator shall be to assist the parties to achieve a mutually satisfactory resolution of the grievance by means of the mediation process.
2. If a satisfactory resolution of the grievance is achieved by means of this mediation process, both parties to the grievance shall sign a written statement of resolution to that effect, and thus waive the right of either party to further appeal the grievance.

Please keep your TALB Site Representative, TALB Leadership and or TALB Staff apprised of the outcome of the informal grievance – the TALB Grievance Committee should be looped in.

Stop Sign

The Association determines whether a grievance goes to arbitration. By this point in the grievance process, the TALB Grievance Committee must be completely informed of the grievance. The TALB Grievance Committee will vote on whether to proceed to STEP 4: Binding Arbitration. The TALB Grievance Committee’s recommendation is then brought to the TALB Executive Board. Many factors are considered when determining if the Association should pursue a grievance through binding arbitration, including, but not limited to; the strength of the grievance, precedence, are there broader implications for the Association as a whole, etc.

Formal Level – Step 4:  Binding Arbitration

If resolution of the grievance is not achieved as a result of mediation (Step 3) or if Step 3 has been waived, the grievant may request the Association to submit the grievance to arbitration. If the Association proceeds to arbitration, the statement of grievance shall be filed with Employee Relations Services on the appropriate Step 4 form within ten (10) days following the conclusion of mediation. The form shall include the same information as cited in D.1. above and the response at Step 2 as well as the exclusive representative’s endorsement of filing.

Download Grievance Forms