All employees are responsible for a level of confidentiality that will preserve an environment that supports sincerity, honesty, and ethical behavior.
However, as public sector employees supported by public funds, employees should not expect privacy in their work, work stations, personal computers, and/or anything that belongs to the City used to produce that work. As official government records most types of communication, unless it fits an exception to disclosure, may be made available to the public upon written request in accordance with procedures defined in the Public Information Act and the Open Records Act of the State of Texas.
See Personnel Records and Privacy #040
It is the policy of the City insofar as possible to prevent the occurrence of grievances and to deal promptly and fairly with those which occur.
No adverse action will be taken against an employee for reason of his/her exercise of the grievance right.
FINAL AUTHORITY
Grievances can be appealed through the Department Head to the City Manager whose decision is final.
A. Informal Grievances The employee shall first attempt to resolve the Grievance by an informal conference with his/her immediate superintendent, unless that superintendent is the subject of the grievance. If the informal conference with the superintendent does not result in a resolution of the problem that is satisfactory to the employee, he/she may file a Formal Grievance.
B. Formal Grievances Formal Grievances must be in writing, signed by the employee, and presented to the employee's superintendent. A statement of the specific remedial action requested by the employee must be included in the written grievance. If circumstances warrant, a grievance may be prepared for an employee.
C. After being presented with a written signed Grievance, the superintendent shall:
1. Consult with his/her Department Head.
2. Attempt to resolve the Grievance.
3. Communicate the decision to the employee in writing within five working days after receipt of the Grievance.
D. Appeals An employee who receives no written resolution by the close of the fifth working day following the day the written grievance was presented or is not satisfied with the proposed resolution, may within the next three working days:
1. Appeal in writing to the Department Head, who will then have an additional three days to respond to the employee in writing.
2. If after the three-day period the Department Head has not responded to the employee in writing, or if the employee is not satisfied with the Department Head’s resolution of the problem, then the employee has three working days to appeal in writing to the City Manager.
3. The City Manager shall respond in writing to the employee by the close of the fifth working day following the day the written appeal was received. The decision of the City Manager is final.
If employee does not appeal the decision with the allotted amount of time, the last decision made will stand.
E. In the event that the immediate superintendent is the one complained of, or if that person is reasonably believed to be non-responsive, the reports should be presented immediately to the next highest level of management.