News
By Virginia Terwilliger
|
September 18, 2009
During yesterday's Employee Council meeting, University Employee Assistance Consultant Mary Sherman introduced the new Alternative Dispute Resolution program, required under Virginia's Restructuring Act of 2005.
The program is meant to allow employers and employees a way to mediate complaints during their early stages before they find it necessary to undergo the state's more formal and strict grievance process, said Alan Cohn, director of Faculty and Staff Employee Relations.
"We want to communicate and facilitate a preventative process," Sherman said.
The program applies only to the University's classified staff; faculty and professors go through a separate process to communicate concerns with the University's senior officials.
There are currently eight different mediators on Grounds, all of whom are licensed clinical social workers and are trained through the Human Resources program, Sherman said.