The Office for Conflict Resolution provides informal conflict resolution services. There are three levels of policy that describe our work — a Board of Regents Policy, an Administrative Policy with Appendices, and Administrative Procedures. You can find each of these by following these links:
- Board of Regents Policy
- Administrative Policy with Appendices
- Administrative Procedures
Brief descriptions of the OCR services appear below.
Informal Services
The majority of the Office’s work involves supporting faculty, staff and student employees in resolving disputes informally. Informal services typically include consultation, facilitated dialogue and mediation. More information about these services.
Formal Petition Process
The formal petition process is available to resolve certain employment-related grievances that were addressed but not resolved via the OCR’s informal services. The formal petition process is initiated by the submission of a petition requesting the resolution of an eligible employment-related grievance and includes a hearing, a hearing panel decision on the employment-related grievance, and an opportunity to appeal the panel’s decision on limited grounds. The formal petition process is facilitated by the Office for Equity and Diversity’s Grievance Process Manager.
An eligible employment-related grievance must allege a violation of a specific written University rule, policy, or procedure pertaining to employment. Examples include alleged violations of the civil service rules, P&A policies, and human resources policies. Not all employment-related grievances are eligible for the formal petition process. Please see policy Appendix: Exclusions, Limitations, and other Jurisdictional Considerations to determine eligibility.
If you have an eligible employment-related grievance that has been addressed but not resolved via the OCR’s informal services (i.e., OCR has advised you that all informal services have been exhausted) and you would like to initiate the formal employment-related grievance process, please visit the Employment Grievance Hearing Committee’s webpage for important information.
