Code of Ordinances

Sec­tion 1.  Def­i­n­i­tion of a Griev­ance.  A griev­ance is defined as any unre­solved dif­fer­ence between the Employ­er and the Union or any offi­cer regard­ing the appli­ca­tion, 
mean­ing or inter­pre­ta­tion of this Agree­ment.  This griev­ance pro­ce­dure is sub­ject to and shall not con­flict with any pro­vi­sions of the Illi­nois Pub­lic Labor Rela­tions Act.

Sec­tion 2.  Dis­pute Res­o­lu­tion.  In the inter­est of resolv­ing dis­putes at the ear­li­est pos­si­ble time, it is agreed that an attempt to resolve a dis­pute shall be made between the offi­cer and his imme­di­ate supervisor.

The offi­cer shall make his com­plaint to his imme­di­ate super­vi­sor with­in ten (10) days of the occur­rence giv­ing rise to the mat­ter.  The super­vi­sor will noti­fy the offi­cer of the deci­sion with­in two (2) work­ing days fol­low­ing the day when the com­plaint was made.  Set­tle­ments or with­drawals at this step shall not con­sti­tute a prece­dent in the han­dling of oth­er griev­ances.  In the event of a com­plaint, the offi­cer shall first com­plete his assigned work task, and com­plain lat­er.  In lieu of super­vi­so­ry per­son­nel, Step 1 of the griev­ance pro­ce­dure will be heard by the Sheriff.

Sec­tion 3.  Rep­re­sen­ta­tion.  Griev­ances may be processed by the Union on behalf of an offi­cer or on behalf of a group of offi­cers.  The Employ­er may file con­tract griev­ances direct­ly at Step 3, Sec­tion 8 of this Arti­cle.  Either par­ty may have the griev­ant or one griev­ant rep­re­sent­ing group griev­ants present at any step of the griev­ance pro­ce­dure, and the offi­cer is enti­tled to Union rep­re­sen­ta­tion at each and every step of the griev­ance pro­ce­dure upon his request.  Griev­ances may be filed on behalf of two (2) or more offi­cers only if the same facts, issues and request­ed rem­e­dy apply to all offi­cers in the group.

Sec­tion 4.  Sub­ject Mat­ter.  Only one sub­ject mat­ter shall be cov­ered in any one griev­ance.  A griev­ance shall con­tain a state­ment of the grievant’s posi­tion, the Arti­cle, and Sec­tion of the Agree­ment alleged­ly vio­lat­ed, the date of the alleged vio­la­tion, the relief sought, and the sig­na­ture of the griev­ing officer(s) and the date.

Sec­tion 5.  Time Lim­i­ta­tions.  Griev­ances may be with­drawn at any step of the griev­ance pro­ce­dure with­out prece­dent.  Griev­ances not appealed with­in the des­ig­nat­ed time lim­its will be treat­ed as with­drawn griev­ances.  The Employer’s fail­ure to respond with­in the time lim­its shall not find in favor of the griev­ant, but shall auto­mat­i­cal­ly advance the griev­ance to the next step, except Step 3.  Time lim­its may be extend­ed by writ­ten agree­ment; such exten­sion shall be to a date certain.

Sec­tion 6.  Griev­ance Pro­cess­ing.  Rea­son­able time while on duty shall be per­mit­ted to Union rep­re­sen­ta­tives for the pur­pose of aid­ing or assist­ing or oth­er­wise rep­re­sent­ing offi­cers in the han­dling and pro­cess­ing of griev­ances or exer­cis­ing oth­er rights set forth in this Agree­ment, and such rea­son­able time shall be with­out loss of pay, except that no over­time lia­bil­i­ty shall be incurred by engag­ing in activ­i­ty under this Sec­tion.  Employ­er shall be noti­fied of any intend­ed absence in advance and may deny the intend­ed absence where such absence may inter­fere with the oper­a­tions of the Employ­er.  No offi­cer shall engage in activ­i­ty under this Sec­tion with­out pri­or release being pro­vid­ed by the Sher­iff, which shall not be unrea­son­ably denied.

Sec­tion 7.  Griev­ance Meet­ings.  A max­i­mum of two (2) offi­cers (the griev­ant and/or Union Rep) per work shift shall be excused from work with pay to par­tic­i­pate in a Step 1 or Step 2 griev­ance meet­ing.  The officer(s) shall only be excused for the amount of time rea­son­ably required to present the griev­ance.  The officer(s) shall not be paid for any time dur­ing which a griev­ance meet­ing occurs out­side of an officer’s work shift.  In the event of a griev­ance, an offi­cer shall first per­form his assigned work task and file his griev­ance later.

Sec­tion 8.  Steps in Pro­ce­dure.  Dis­putes aris­ing under this Agree­ment shall be resolved as follows:

Step 1.        If no agree­ment is reached between the offi­cer and the super­vi­sor, as pro­vid­ed for in Sec­tion 2 Dis­pute Res­o­lu­tion, the Union shall pre­pare a writ­ten griev­ance on a form mutu­al­ly agreed to and pre­sent­ed to the Sher­iff and Chair­man of the Coun­ty Board no lat­er than ten (10) work­ing days after the offi­cer was noti­fied of the deci­sion by the super­vi­sor.  With­in five (5) work­ing days after the griev­ance has been sub­mit­ted, the Sher­iff and Chair­man of the Coun­ty Board shall meet with the griev­ant and the Union Rep to dis­cuss the griev­ance and make a good faith attempt to resolve the griev­ance.  The Sher­iff and Chair­man of the Coun­ty Board shall respond in writ­ing to the griev­ant and the Union Rep with­in five (5) work­ing days fol­low­ing the meeting.

Step 2.        If the griev­ance is not set­tled at Step 1 the griev­ance may be referred in writ­ing, with­in five (5) work­ing days after the deci­sion of the Sher­iff and Chair­man of the Coun­ty Board, to a Com­mit­tee con­sist­ing of the Sher­iff and all mem­bers of the Coun­ty Board.  With­in twen­ty (20) work­ing days after the griev­ance has been filed with the Com­mit­tee, the Com­mit­tee shall meet with the Union and the griev­ant to dis­cuss the griev­ance and make a good faith effort to resolve the griev­ance.  The Com­mit­tee shall respond in writ­ing to the griev­ant and the Union with­in five (5) work­ing days fol­low­ing the meeting.

Step 3.        If the dis­pute is not set­tled at Step 2, the mat­ter may be sub­mit­ted by the Union to arbi­tra­tion with­in ten (10) work­ing days after the Committee’s writ­ten deci­sion or the expi­ra­tion of the five (5) day peri­od if the Com­mit­tee fails to ren­der a writ­ten deci­sion.  With­in ten (10) work­ing days after the mat­ter has been sub­mit­ted to arbi­tra­tion a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Employ­er and the Union shall meet to select an arbi­tra­tor from a list of mutu­al­ly agreed-to arbi­tra­tors.  If the par­ties are unable to agree on an arbi­tra­tor with­in ten (10) work­ing days after such meet­ing, the par­ties shall request the Amer­i­can Arbi­tra­tion Asso­ci­a­tion to sub­mit a list of sev­en (7) arbi­tra­tors.  Either par­ty shall have the right to reject an entire list of arbi­tra­tors.  The arbi­tra­tor shall be select­ed from the list of sev­en (7) by alter­nate strikes by the employ­ee rep­re­sen­ta­tive and the 
Union.  The Employ­er and the Union shall take turns as to the first strike.  The per­son whose name remains on the list shall be the arbi­tra­tor, pro­vid­ed that either par­ty before strik­ing any names shall have the right to reject one (1) of the arbi­tra­tors on the list.  The arbi­tra­tor shall be noti­fied of his selec­tion by a joint let­ter from the Employ­er and the­Union.  Such let­ter shall request the arbi­tra­tor to set a time and a place for the hear­ing sub­ject to the avail­abil­i­ty of the Employ­er and a Union rep­re­sen­ta­tive and shall be noti­fied of the issue where mutu­al­ly agreed by the par­ties.  All hear­ings shall be held in the City of Jones­boro, Illi­nois, unless oth­er­wise agreed to.

Both par­ties agree to make a good faith attempt to arrive at a joint state­ment of facts and issues to be sub­mit­ted to the arbitrator.

The Employ­er or Union shall have the right to request the arbi­tra­tor to require the pres­ence of wit­ness­es and/or doc­u­ments.  Each par­ty shall bear the expense of its wit­ness.  Once a deter­mi­na­tion is made that the mat­ter is arbi­tra­ble, or if such pre­lim­i­nary deter­mi­na­tion can­not be rea­son­ably made, the arbi­tra­tor shall then pro­ceed to deter­mine the mer­its of the dispute.

The expens­es and fees of arbi­tra­tion and the cost of the hear­ing room shall be shared equal­ly by the Employ­er and Union.  Costs of arbi­tra­tion shall include the arbitrator’s fees, room cost and tran­scrip­tion costs.  Noth­ing in this Arti­cle shall pre­clude the Employ­er and Union­from agree­ing to use the expe­dit­ed arbi­tra­tion pro­ce­dures of the Amer­i­can Arbi­tra­tion Asso­ci­a­tion.  The deci­sion and award of the arbi­tra­tor shall be made with­in forty-five (45) days fol­low­ing the hear­ing and shall be final and bind­ing on the Employ­er, the­Union and the officer(s) involved.  The arbi­tra­tor shall have no pow­er to amend, mod­i­fy, nul­li­fy, ignore, add to or sub­tract from the pro­vi­sions of the Agreement.

Sec­tion 9.  Waiv­er of Pro­ce­dure.  Any offi­cer who uses this pro­ce­dure waives all oth­er review pro­ce­dures that the offi­cer or the Coun­cil may pos­sess to review the alle­ga­tions raised by the griev­ance.  An offi­cer who seeks to process a mat­ter griev­able here­un­der, under any oth­er pro­ce­dure waives all rights to review the alle­ga­tions that may be raised by a griev­ance filed here­un­der.  The Coun­cil agrees not to process such a griev­ance under this Agreement.