HBA-BSM H.B. 3052 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3052
By: Rangel
Higher Education
4/8/2001
Introduced


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current Texas law, public employees are granted the right to present
grievances concerning their wages, hours of employment, or conditions of
work to their employer.  Although opinions of the Attorney General have
broadly interpreted the right to bring a grievance, certain public
institutions of higher education do not have a formal grievance procedure
in place for employees who are neither faculty or administrators.   House
Bill 3052 requires the governing board of each institution of higher
education to establish a formal grievance procedure for employees other
than faculty members and requires that an ombudsman be hired to assist in
the grievance procedure.   

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3052 amends the Education Code to require the governing body of
each institution of higher education to establish a formal grievance
procedure for certain employees of the institution. The grievance procedure
must be designed to protect the rights of employees rather than to protect
the institution and must provide for:  

 _a written form for initiating the process; 

 _a written explanation of grievance procedures; 

 _deadlines that permit an employee adequate time to gather and organize
documentation and prepare for any hearing on the grievance;  
 _an impartial decision-making body composed of peers of the employee; 

 _confidentiality of all communications made during the process; and 

 _an appeals process that permits an employee to contest an adverse
decision.  

The bill requires the governing board in conjunction with establishing the
formal grievance procedure to employ an ombudsman to assist staff in
participating in the grievance process, and to ensure that the institution
has access to the services of a sufficient number of trained mediators to
mediate differences between staff and management, regardless of whether
those differences result in a grievance being filed.  

The bill requires the governing body of an institution of higher education
to adopt the employee grievance procedure no later than December 31, 2001. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.