Case Study on grievance processing

There are differences between employer, employee and union rights in grievance processing.  An employer cannot proceed with interrogation unless a union steward is present to advise its member.  Neither the union or nonunion employees are entitled to legal counsel during an employment investigation with the employer.  Employee is entitled individual rights and fair representation.

Individuals have a vested right to use the grievance procedure through arbitration if they choose

Individuals should be entitled to process grievances for discharge, seniority and compensation cases, and

• The union as a collective body should have freedom to decide what constitutes a meritorious grievance and how far the grievance should be pursued.
• A review of Supreme Court decisions on fair representation has extracted the following Six Principles:
• Employees have the right to contract terms enforced to their benefit

An employee has no right to insist on his or her personal interpretation of a contract term

No individual can require a union to process a grievance to arbitration but each should have equal access to grievance procedures

• Settlement on the basis of personal motives by union officials constitutes bad faith
• The individual should have a grievance decided on its own merits, not traded for other grievance settlements
• While the union is entitled to judge the relative merit of grievances, it must exercise diligence in investigating the situation that led to the grievance
• This week you are to pick a Supreme Court decision on fair representation and discuss the Supreme Court case decision as it applies to fair representation. Include in your discussion some of the six principles. You may start your search for your case by going to: https://www.supremecourt.gov/Links to an external site.