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The Vermont Statutes Online



Title

03

:
Executive






Chapter

027

:
STATE EMPLOYEES LABOR RELATIONS ACT






Subchapter

002
:
LABOR RELATIONS BOARD










 

§

926. Grievances

(a) The Board

shall hear and make a final determination on the grievances of all employees

who are eligible to appeal grievances to the Board. Grievance hearings at the

Board level shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations

adopted by the Board. The right to institute grievance proceedings extends to

individual employees, groups of employees, and collective bargaining units.

(b) A collective

bargaining agreement may provide for binding arbitration as a final step of a

grievance procedure, rather than a hearing by the Board. An agreement that

includes a binding arbitration provision shall also include the procedure for

selecting an arbitrator.

(c) If a

collective bargaining agreement provides for binding arbitration as a final

step of a grievance procedure, the agreement may also establish:

(1) procedural

rules for conducting grievance arbitration proceedings;

(2) whether

grievance arbitration proceedings will be confidential; and

(3) whether

arbitrated grievance determinations will have precedential value.

(d) An

arbitrator chosen or appointed under this section shall have no authority to

add to, subtract from, or modify the collective bargaining agreement.

(e) Any

collective bargaining agreement that contains a binding arbitration provision

pursuant to this section shall include an acknowledgement of arbitration that

provides substantially the following:

(The parties)

understand that this agreement contains a provision for binding arbitration as

a final step of the grievance process. After the effective date of this

agreement, no grievance, submitted to binding arbitration, may be brought to

the Vermont Labor Relations Board. An employee who has declined representation

by the employee organization or whom the employee organization has declined to

represent or is unable to represent, shall be entitled, either by representing

himself or herself or with the assistance of independent legal counsel, to

appeal his or her grievance to the Vermont Labor Relations Board as the final

step of the grievance process in accordance with the rules and regulations

adopted by the Board.

(f) This section

shall not apply to labor interest arbitration, which as used in this chapter

means the method of concluding labor negotiations by means of a disinterested

person to determine the terms of a labor agreement.

(g) A party may

apply to the arbitrator for a modification of an award if the application is

made within 30 days after delivery of a copy of the award to the applicant. An

arbitrator may modify an award only if the arbitrator finds any one of the

following:

(1) There was an

evident miscalculation of figures or an evident mistake in the description of

any person, thing, or property referred to in the award.

(2) The award

was based on a matter not submitted to the arbitrator, and the award may be

corrected without affecting the merits of the decision on the issues submitted.

(3) The award

was imperfect in form and the award may be corrected without affecting the

merits of the controversy.

(h) A party may

apply to the Civil Division of the Superior Court for review of the award

provided the application is made within 30 days after delivery of a copy of the

award to the applicant or, in the case of a claim of corruption, fraud, or

other undue means, the application is made within 30 days after those grounds

are known or should have been known. The Civil Division of the Superior Court

shall vacate an arbitration award based on any of the following:

(1) The award

was procured by corruption, fraud, or other undue means.

(2) There was

partiality or prejudicial misconduct by the arbitrator.

(3) The

arbitrator exceeded his or her power or rendered an award requiring a person to

commit an act or engage in conduct prohibited by law.

(i) The Board

shall hear and make a final determination on the grievances of all retired

individual employees of the University of Vermont, groups of such retired

individuals, and retired collective bargaining unit members of the University

of Vermont. Grievances shall be limited to those relating to compensation and

benefits that were accrued during active employment but are received after

retirement. As used in this subsection, "grievance" means an

allegation of a violation of a collective bargaining agreement, employee handbook

provision, early retirement plan, individual separation agreement or other

documented agreement, or rule or regulation of the University of Vermont.

(Added 1969, No. 113, § 1; amended 1977, No. 109, § 7, eff. July 3, 1977; 2007,

No. 107 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2015, No. 35, § 1, eff. May 26, 2015.)