Ch. 246

LAWS OF MARYLAND

(b)  Upon the formal or informal initiation of a grievance
an employee designated as a grievance procedure representative
shall not suffer any loss of pay for investigating, processing or
testifying in any step of the grievance procedure. Release time
from normal work schedules is to be granted all witnesses to
attend grievance hearings. Expenses incurred in connection with
attendance by employees at grievance hearings shall be borne by
the employee's department.

(c)  Similar grievances may be consolidated and processed
together as a single issue. Where a number of individual
grievances have been reduced into a single grievance, not more
than three employees selected by and from the group may be
excused from work to attend a grievance meeting called by the
responsible administrator at step one and not more than five
employees at steps two and three unless, at any step, prior
permission is granted by the person hearing the grievance.

(d)  Employee complaint forms shall be available in the
campus personnel department. The University form shall be used.

(e)  It is the responsibility of the head of each
organizational unit to assure that each employee understands the
channels of communication and appeal, specifically who is the
department head or chairman and who acts in their absence.

(f)  An employee may not leave the post of duty to engage in
grievance handling without the knowledge of and permission from
the designated supervisor.

(g)  A formal grievance may be filed by the aggrieved
employee; the request to appeal a grievance must bear the
signature of the employee or the employee's representative at
each step of the procedure.

(h) A record of each grievance and its disposition shall be
furnished to the employee involved. A file copy of each
grievance shall be maintained at the last step at which the
grievance was processed, and an additional copy shall be filed
with the campus personnel department which shall be available to
the employee or the employee's representative.

(i) At any point in the grievance procedure, the employee
may elect to obtain, change, or dismiss the representative by
providing a written notice to the person hearing the grievance.
However, the action does not allow the grievant to return to a
previous step in the procedure.

(j) A hearing officer may exclude incompetent, irrelevant,
immaterial, and unduly repetitious evidence or witnesses.

(k) Each step of the grievance procedure shall be processed
as quickly as practicable within the specified time limits.

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