Level 4 If the Employee is not satisfied with the response of the Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, the Employee may submit the grievance to the Superintendent within ten (10) days of the receipt of the response to Level 3. The Superintendent shall sign and date all copies when he/she receives them. The Superintendent shall respond in writing within ten (10) days of the above date. Either party may be accompanied by one other Employee or administrator.
Level 2 If the grievant is not satisfied with the written answer from his/her manager the grievant may, within ten (10) days from the receipt of such answer, file a written appeal to the appointing authority. Within ten (10) days of the receipt of the written appeal the appointing authority shall investigate the grievance, which shall include a meeting with the concerned parties, and thereafter shall give a written answer to the grievant within ten (10) days.
Level Four A. If within ten (10) school days following the formal third step the Association submits a request to the Superintendent to enter into arbitration, the Superintendent and the Association shall attempt to agree upon a mutually acceptable arbitrator and shall obtain a commitment from said arbitrator to serve. If the parties are unable to agree upon an arbitrator or to obtain such a commitment within ten (10) school days, a written request for a list of arbitrators shall be made to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) by either party. The list shall consist of seven (7) potential arbitrators and the parties shall determine by lot which party shall have the right to remove the first name from the list. The party having the right to remove the first name shall do so within two (2) school days. Then the parties shall have one (1) school day alternately to remove until one (1) name remains. The person whose name remains shall be the arbitrator.
B. The arbitrator so selected shall confer with the Superintendent and the Association and hold hearings promptly and shall issue his/her decision not later than fifteen (15) school days from the date of the close of the hearings, or, if oral hearings have been waived, then from the date the final statements and proofs on the issues are submitted to him/her. The arbitrator's decision shall be in writing and shall set forth his/her findings of fact, reasoning, and conclusions of the issues submitted. The arbitrator's decision shall have no power to alter, add to, or detract from the specific provisions of the Agreement. No decision of the arbitrator shall in any way be derogation of the powers, duties, and rights established in the Board by constitutional provisions, statue, ordinance, or special legislative acts. The decision of the arbitrator shall be submitted to the Superintendent and the Association and shall be final and binding on the parties.
C. The costs of the services of the arbitrator will be borne equally by the Board and the Association.
D. If the grievant files any claim or complaint in any forum other than under the grievance procedure of this Master Contract Agreement, then the school district shall not be required to process the same claim or set of facts through this grievance procedure.
Level One A teacher believing themselves wrong by an alleged violation of the express provisions of this contract shall within seven (7) days of its alleged occurrence orally discuss the grievance with the building principal in an attempt to resolve same. If no resolution is obtained within three (3) days of the discussion, the teacher shall reduce the grievance to writing and present to the Principal, with the signature of the Association attached only to inform the Board of the Association's knowledge of the grievance. If no decision is rendered within four (4) days or the decision is unsatisfactory to the grievant, the grievant may appeal same to the Superintendent at Level Two. Level One may be bypassed if mutually agreed upon by the Superintendent and the Association. If no decision is rendered within five (5) days of the discussion, or the decision is unsatisfactory to the grievant and/or the Association, the grievant may appeal same to the Board of Education by filing a written grievance along with the decision of the Superintendent with the office of the Board in charge of drawing up the agenda for the Board's meeting not less than ten (10) days prior to the next regularly scheduled Board meeting. A copy of the written decision of the Board shall be forwarded to the Superintendent for permanent filing, the building principal for the building in which the grievance arose, the grievant, and the Secretary of the Association.
1. If the Association is not satisfied with the disposition of the grievance at Level Three, it may within ten (10) days after the decision of the Board, refer the matter for arbitrator to the American Arbitrator Association, in writing, and request the appointment of an arbitration to hear the grievance. If the parties cannot agree upon an arbitrator, he/she shall be selected by the American Arbitrator Association in accordance with its rules.
2. Neither party may raise a new defense or ground at Level Four not previously raised or disclosed at other written levels. Each party shall submit to the other party not less than three (3) days prior to the hearing a pre-hearing statement alleging facts, grounds and defenses which will be proven at the hearing and hold a conference at that time in an attempt to settle the grievance.
3. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final, conclusive, and binding upon employees, the Board and the Association subject to the right of the Board or the Association to judicial review, any lawful decision of the arbitrator shall be forthwith placed into effect.
4. Powers of the arbitrator are subject to the following limitations:
a. The arbitrator shall have no power to add to, subtract from, disregard, alter or modify any of the terms of this Agreement;
b. The arbitrator shall have no power to establish salary scales or to change any salary;
c. The arbitrator shall have no power to change any practice, policy, or rule of the Board nor substitute his judgment for that of the Board as to the reasonableness of any such practice, policy, rule, or any action taken by the Board;
d. The arbitrator shall have no power to decide any question which, under this Agreement, is within the responsibility of the management to decide. In rendering decisions, an arbitrator shall give due regard to the responsibility of management and shall so construe the agreement that there will be no interference with such responsibilities except as they may be specifically conditioned by this Agreement;
e. The arbitrator shall have no power to interpret state or federal law;
f. The arbitrator shall not hear any grievance previously barred from scope of the grievance procedure.
5. After a case on which the arbitrator is powered to rule hereunder has been referred to him, it may not be withdrawn by either party except by mutual consent.
6. If either party disputes the arbitrability of any grievance under the terms of this agreement, the arbitrator shall have the jurisdiction to determine the arbitrability of the grievance. The arbitrator shall have authority to hear both the jurisdictional issues and the merits of the dispute in the same proceeding. Should the arbitrator determine that s/he is without jurisdiction to rule, the matter shall be referred back to the parties without decision or recommendation on the merits.
7. More than one (1) grievance may not be considered by the arbitrator at the same time except upon expressed written mutual consent and then only if they are of similar nature.
8. The cost of arbitrator shall be borne equally by the parties except each party shall assume its own cost for representation including any expense of witnesses.
Level Five i. If the grievant is not satisfied with the disposition of the grievance at Level Four, the Association may submit the grievance to advisory arbitration not later than fifteen (15) school days after receipt of the decision by the Board.
ii. Within ten (10) school days after such submission for arbitration, the Board and the Association shall attempt to agree upon a mutually acceptable arbitrator. If the parties are unable to agree upon an arbitrator, either shall request the Public Employment Relations Commission to appoint an arbitrator.
iii. The arbitrator shall confer with the representative of the Board and of the Association and shall proceed with a hearing and submit a written report in the shortest possible time setting forth his findings of fact, reasoning and conclusions on the issues submitted. The arbitrator shall be without power or authority to make any decision, which requires the commission of an act prohibited by law or which is violative of the terms of the Agreement. The decision of the arbitrator shall be advisory only to the Board and the Association.
iv. The costs for the services of the arbitrator, including per diem expenses and actual necessary travel, subsistence expenses and the cost of the hearing room shall be borne equally by the Board and the Association. Any other expenses incurred shall be paid by the party incurring same.
v. If time is lost by any teacher due to arbitration proceedings necessitating the retention of a substitute, the Board of Education will pay only the cost of the substitute; the time lost by the teacher must either be without pay or charged to personal time; however, if the arbitrator subpoenas a teacher to attend the arbitration proceedings as a witness, this teacher shall not suffer loss of pay.
vi. Notwithstanding the above, the parties agree that in not more than one (1) arbitration per contract year (non-cumulative) may be submitted to an arbitrator, whose decision shall be final and binding upon both parties. The Association shall have the right to designate which arbitration shall be so binding, provided such designation is made and communicated in writing prior to the commencement of the arbitration in question. The Association's choice shall be limited to a grievance which must have reached Level Two of the grievance procedure in any contract year governed by the agreement.
vii. Notwithstanding the above, the parties agree that any dispute which involves a disagreement as to whether the health insurance benefits provided employees herein are equal to or better than the health insurance benefits heretofore provided employees through the New Jersey Public and School Employees Health Benefits Plan may be submitted to an arbitrator whose decision shall be final and binding on both parties.
