Peer Resolution Process Overview
Got a problem, and you don't know where to turn? The NIH campus has a variety of resources
available to assist employees. The Office of the Ombudsman/Center for Cooperative Resolution
(CCR) has a page on its web site listing a number of those resources:
http://www4.od.nih.gov/ccr/resource.html
New Procedures
If you are an employee in CC, NHLBI, NIA, NIAID, NINDS, or OD, you have an avenue
available to you that is not available to others on campus. The CCR is piloting a Peer Resolution
Panel (PRP) as part of the employee grievance procedure in those ICs. When you have a
workplace disagreement or conflict, instead of filing the traditional written grievance and
awaiting a written management decision, you have the opportunity to present your grievance to a
panel of NIH employees to hear and decide your grievance. While this pilot has been in place
for over one year, the procedures have been revised to make resolving workplace grievances
even easier for employees. The PRP pilot is being extended due to this change in procedures.
How the Process Works
In a situation where a supervisor takes an official action that an employee feels is unjust (for
example, a suspension, reprimand, a final performance rating of "unacceptable," leave denial),
the employee can file a grievance by submitting a completed Grievance Form to the CCR or HR.
A CCR representative will meet with the grievant and the appropriate management official to
attempt to resolve the grievance. If there is no agreement between the parties, the employee may
take his or her grievance before the Peer Resolution Panel.
The Peer Resolution Panel (consisting of two supervisors and three employees drawn randomly
from a pool of 100 trained Panelists) hears the matter by interviewing the employee, the
supervisor, and any relevant witnesses. In rendering a final, binding decision on the grievance,
the Panel judges whether agency policy has been properly and consistently applied, and, if not,
what kind of remedy is appropriate. All information communicated by and among the Panel
remains strictly confidential.
Beginning the Process
Employees simply need to complete and submit a Grievance Form to the CCR or their servicing
Human Resources office to begin the grievance process. You may access a full copy of the new
procedures and the Grievance Form at http://www4.od.nih.gov/ccr/PRPPilot.html.
Please contact your servicing Human Resources Office or the Office of the Ombudsman for
assistance in using this process.
Main Menu