Grievance Redressal

Informal Grievance Resolution Procedure

Each staff/student who has a grievance shall make a reasonable effort to resolve the matter on an informal basis prior to requesting a grievance hearing, and shall attempt to solve the problem with the person with whom the student has the grievance, that person’s immediate supervisor, or the College administration.

1. The Staff/student shall first discuss the matter with the party in question. If, however, the staff/student cannot discuss the matter with the other party or if they are not satisfied with the discussion, he or she may proceed with the informal grievance process.
2. Staff/student must begin the informal grievance procedure within five (5) days from the date of the alleged grievance. The informal procedure must precede the formal procedure. The Staff/student may choose to terminate the grievance at any time during the informal procedure. A grievance filed within thirty (30) days of the end of the semester will be deferred until the following semester.
3. The informal procedure shall be completed within ten (10) days of reporting of the original complaint to the other party. It is the staff/student’s responsibility to describe to the parties involved the nature of the grievance so that involved parties understand that the grievance procedure has been initiated.
4. An informal meeting will be held by the staff/ student and appropriate college staff/authorites. The purpose of the meeting is to identify the perceived violation of the staff/student’s rights and to develop a resolution that is of mutual satisfaction to all parties involved. The staff/student shall discuss and attempt to resolve the matter with the administration, the person’s immediate supervisor, or the administrator at the informal meeting. If the staff/student is satisfied with the outcome of the informal meeting, the process could end.

Formal Grievance Resolution Procedure

Filing Statement of Staff/Student Grievance

1. If the staff/student is not satisfied with the outcome of the informal procedure, a staff/Student Statement of Grievance may be filed within ten (10) days following the informal meeting to the Administration Department. Grievance must be recorded via email([email protected]). The staff/student may choose to terminate the grievance at any time during the formal procedure.
2. A summary of the outcomes of the informal process will be prepared by the faculty or the immediate supervisor and forwarded to the Administration Department/Academic Director/COO.
3. The Administration /Academic Director/COO shall investigate the nature of the grievance including meeting with the parties involved and possible witnesses for each, clarification of the perceived violation of rights and investigation of college policies that may or may not have been followed.
4. The Administration /Academic Director/COO, after conferring with the staff/student may determine that the grievance can be resolved by an additional attempt to engage in the informal procedure within ten (10) days. If the staff/student isn’t satisfied with the outcome of this informal procedure, the student may still request a formal hearing. The Administration /Academic Director/COO shall give written notice to the staff/student if it is determined that additional informal procedures should not be pursued.

Other Provisions

If staff/student are not satified with the outcome of hearing then they may escalate the issue further to respective authorities as mentioned below,

• If staff/student wish to escalate the issue to COO post Formal/Informal hearing then they may proceed with same via email [email protected]
• If the Staff/Student wish to further escalate the issue to RAKEZ then they may do so by sending email to RAKEZ via email [email protected]

Request for Staff/Student Grievance Hearing

A request for a Staff/Student Grievance Hearing shall be filed within twenty (20) days by the staff/student if the staff/student is not satisfied with the outcome of the informal procedure after filing a Staff/Student Statement of Grievance, or, if after conferring with the staff/student, the Administration /Academic Director/COO has determined an informal procedure would be unlikely to help resolve the matter.

Within ten (10) days following receipt of the Request for Staff/Student Grievance Hearing, the COO shall appoint a Staff/Student Grievance Hearing Committee(if required) as described below, and the Staff/Student Grievance Hearing Committee shall meet in private and without the parties present to select a chair and to determine on the basis of the Statement of Grievance whether it presents sufficient grounds for a hearing.

The determination of whether the Statement of Grievance presents sufficient grounds for a hearing shall be based on the following:

• The statement contains facts which, if true, would constitute a grievance under these procedures;
• The grievant is a student as defined in these procedures, which include applicants and former students;
• The grievant is personally and directly affected by the alleged grievance;
• The grievance was filed in a timely manner;
• The grievance is not clearly frivolous, clearly without foundation, or clearly filed for purpose of harassment.

If the grievance does not meet each of the requirements, the Hearing Committee chair shall notify the staff/student in writing of the rejection of the Request for a Staff/Student Grievance Hearing, together with the specific reasons for the rejection and the procedures for appeal. This notice will be provided within five (5) days of the date the decision is made by the Staff/Student Grievance Hearing Committee. If the Request for Staff/Student Grievance Hearing satisfies each of the requirements, the Administration /Academic Director/COO or designee shall schedule a grievance hearing. The hearing will begin within ten (10) days following the decision to grant a Staff/Student Grievance Hearing. All parties to the grievance shall be given not less than five (5) days’ notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing.

Note: All grievance must be sent via emails for record purpose and no verbal request will be entertained.