GRIEVANCE POLICY:

Definitions:

“Complainant” - member filing a complaint

“Complainee” - member against whom a complaint is filed

1.   All parties involved in a grievance shall keep matters confidential.  This includes the complainant, the complainee, the Board, and any other person involved in the Grievance procedure.

2.   Complaints submitted to the Board must always be in writing and signed by the complainant.  (This helps to discourage frivolous complaints, to anonymous complaints which, cannot be properly investigated.)

3.   Upon receipt of a written complaint, the Board must ascertain that the complainant has made at least one attempt to personally resolve the problem with the complainee.  The complainant may be required to submit a written and signed account of her/his attempt to solve the problem directly.  Until it has been ascertained that a complaint is valid, the Board will not inform the complainee of the situation.

4.       Any complaint considered by the Board must be investigated sufficiently to determine whether or not the complaint is valid and whether or not a co-op regulation has been violated. 

The investigation will include the following:

      a)   An interview with the complainant;

b)   an interview with the complainee;

c)   Interviews with any other persons obviously implicated or who have relevant knowledge of the situation.

5.   Interview will be conducted by two members of the Board at a time.  Board members will decline from sitting on an interview team where a bias may affect their objectivity and fair judgement of the matter (e.g. where a close friend or family member is the person against whom the complaint was filed).

6.   If, from its investigation, the Board determines that a member has violated a co-op regulation, or is not fulfilling his/her responsibilities to the co-op, the Board will:

a)   Where appropriate, assist the complainant and complainee in arriving at a mutually agreeable solution to the problem.

b)   Where necessary, ascertain and explore solutions to the problem with the complainee without the participation of the complainant.

In either case, where a procedure for solving the problem has been agreed upon by the complainant and complainee, or by the complainee and the Board, the Board will monitor the situation to ensure that the procedure is being followed.

7.   Where no solution is found, or a proposed solution does not work, and where the Board can see no other course of action, the Board may recommend termination of the occupancy rights of the member(s) in violation.

8.   Contact by the Board with all parties, during the course of the investigation, shall be handled in an objective and considerate manner.