Grievance News

April 15, 2005 - Arbitration Win!

Arbitrator Orders PSU to Reinstate Faculty Member and Pay Lost Wages and Benefits

Arbitrator Sylvia Skratek ordered PSU to reinstate a tenure-track School of Business Administration (SBA) faculty member and to make her whole for all lost pay and benefits. The faculty member, who has requested anonymity, will be restored to the beginning of her fifth year on the tenure track at the beginning of the 2005-06 academic year.

Background

In August 2003, PSU-AAUP filed a grievance on behalf of a tenure-track faculty member in the School of Business Administration (SBA) protesting the termination of contract and the University’s violation of the Promotion and Tenure guidelines.

The specific charges the Union raised were that the University had failed to provide the faculty members with annual reviews and a timely third year review and then unfairly terminated her after her fourth year on the tenure-track.

The Union’s position was that the termination decision was premature, procedurally defective, and in blatant violation of the guidelines for promotion and tenure that are part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The University’s promotion and tenure guidelines state, “Faculty on annual tenure must be reviewed after the completion of the first year of their appointment and each subsequent year. In order to assure that candidates for tenure have a timely assessment of their progress so as to permit correction of deficiencies, there must be a review at the end of the third year.”

The University’s position was that it could terminate the faculty member without cause by providing her timely notice.

The Arbitrator held that the University committed three separate contract violations by:

1) failing to provide the faculty member with an annual review after her first year;

2) providing her only annual review at the end of her third year; and

3) conducting her required third year review at the end of her fourth year, rather than at the end of the third year.

The Arbitrator also made it clear that it is the University’s obligation to see to it that faculty members are provided with timely guidance as required by the Promotion & Tenure Guidelines and that junior faculty cannot be expected to complain about the lack of timely reviews.

If you have any questions about this Arbitration award, please contact me.

The Arbitrator rejected the University’s argument that it can non-renew faculty members for any reason as long as timely notice is provided. The Arbitrator agreed with the Union’s argument that this position would render meaningless the Promotion & Tenure Guidelines. In the Arbitrator’s words, “To suggest that the University can ignore its own guidelines is beyond reasonableness.”