Teaching Assistant and Assistant Instructor Grievance Procedures

Handbook of Operating Procedures 9-2050 (Interim)

Teaching Assistant and Assistant Instructor Grievance Procedures

The University of Texas at Austin

Executive Sponsor: Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
Policy Owner: Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies
February 9, 2024

Discipline and Grievance Rights. The University of Texas at Austin (“University”) has the right to discipline teaching assistants and assistant instructors. A teaching assistant or assistant instructor has the right to grieve any discipline assessed against them as set out in this Policy. A teaching assistant or assistant instructor may not use these procedures to grieve actions, or terms and conditions of employment, that do not constitute discipline, as defined in this Policy.

Action Constituting Discipline. Termination during the term of appointment constitutes discipline and may be ordered for good cause as authorized by Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) 9-2020, “Teaching Assistants,” and HOP 9-2010, “Assistant Instructors.” Other discipline includes suspension without pay; reduction in pay; and formal written reprimand and professional sanctions that are in writing and made part of the teaching assistant’s or assistant instructor’s personnel file. The assignment or reassignment of work responsibilities, oral reprimands, oral counseling, written coaching not included in the personnel file, and decisions not to reappoint teaching assistants or assistant instructors are not discipline. If an administrator withdraws a written reappointment offer based on conduct that occurred or became known to the administrator after the teaching assistant or assistant instructor accepted the offer in writing, the teaching assistant or assistant instructor may grieve whether the administrator had good cause to withdraw the reappointment offer.

Notice of Proposed Discipline; Response; Administrative Decision.
1. Notice of Proposed Discipline. Prior to issuing a notice of proposed discipline to a teaching assistant or assistant instructor, the dean, or the dean’s designated administrator, must contact the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost and notify that office of the intended action. Then, the dean or administrator must provide written notice to a teaching assistant or assistant instructor of any proposed discipline. The notice must state the proposed discipline and the basis for imposing it. Faculty must coordinate with their college or school’s dean or designated administrator to initiate this process. Designated administrators shall keep their deans updated at each step in the discipline and grievance process.
2. Response. The teaching assistant or assistant instructor may:
  1. accept the proposed discipline; or
  2. submit to the administrator a written response in opposition to a notice of proposed discipline within five (5) business days after receiving the notice. The response must indicate the basis for why the teaching assistant or assistant instructor opposes the proposed discipline and may include factual assertions, arguments, or documents in support of the teaching assistant or assistant instructor’s position.
3. Administrative Decision. If the teaching assistant or assistant instructor does not submit a written response in a timely manner opposing the proposed discipline, the administrator may proceed with the proposed discipline. If the teaching assistant or assistant instructor submits a written response opposing the proposed disciplinary action within the allotted time, the administrator will consider the response and, within five (5) business days, inform the teaching assistant or assistant instructor in writing whether the administrator intends to proceed with the proposed discipline.

Grievance Procedures.
1. Submission of grievance.
  1. Form of Submission. A teaching assistant or assistant instructor may submit a grievance opposing the proposed discipline. It must be in writing and include a brief summary of the relevant facts; the name of the relevant administrator; the proposed discipline; the grievant’s explanation why the administrator lacks good cause to discipline the grievant during the term of appointment or why the proposed discipline would violate the grievant’s rights under an applicable law, university policy, or written contract; the grievant’s requested redress; and any supporting written materials the grievant wants to include. Grievances and supporting materials must be submitted to the provost via email to provost@utexas.edu, with a copy to the administrator.
  2. Grievance Submission Deadline. Grievances must be submitted within five (5) business days after receiving notice of an administrator’s intent to proceed with proposed discipline. The provost may not consider grievances or supporting materials submitted after the submission deadline unless the provost extends the deadline, before or after its expiration, for good cause. The provost’s decision on deadline extension is final and not grievable.
2. Burden of Proof. The grievant has the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the administrator lacks good cause to discipline the grievant during the term of appointment or that the proposed discipline would violate the grievant’s rights under an applicable law, university policy, or written contract.
3. Open Record Requests. Grievants may, using UT Austin’s Public Information Portal, obtain documents held by the University that are considered non-exempt “public information” the University is required to disclose under the Texas Public Information Act. The University will waive costs for an open records request that is (i) relevant to the grievance and (ii) five hundred (500) or fewer pages. If the information sought is irrelevant or more than five hundred pages, the grievant will be charged as permitted under the law. Open Records personnel and record custodians should work expeditiously to fulfill any request made under this section. For purposes of this provision, any question regarding relevance should be directed to the Chair of the Faculty Grievance Committee, who will make the relevance determination. Upon receiving information in response to an open records request, the grievant may amend or supplement their grievance, based on the information obtained, within three (3) business days after receiving that information.
4. Effect of Grievance Submission. Unless the provost orders otherwise as authorized under section VI, the timely submission of a grievance following notice of an administrator’s intent to proceed with proposed discipline suspends the imposition of the discipline pending final resolution of the grievance.
5. Grievance Response.
  1. Administrator Response Deadline. The administrator may submit a response within five (5) business days of the submission of the grievance. If the grievant amends or supplements their grievance based on information received pursuant to an open records request, the administrator may amend or supplement their response within three (3) business days of that amendment. The provost may not consider responses or supporting materials submitted after the submission deadline unless the provost extends the deadline, before or after its expiration, for good cause.
  2. Form of Administrator Response. The administrator’s response must in writing, including any supporting written materials. A response and its supporting materials must be submitted to the provost via email to provost@utexas.edu.
6. Faculty Grievance Committee Recommendation. After the response is submitted or the response deadline passes without a response having been submitted, the provost will promptly forward the grievance, any timely submitted response, and any timely submitted supporting materials to a three-member panel of the Faculty Grievance Committee selected at random as provided in HOP 2-2310, “Faculty Grievance Procedure.” The panel may submit questions about the underlying facts in writing to the parties, who will provide their written responses to the panel’s questions no later than two (2) business days after receiving the questions. After reviewing the grievance and other materials received from the provost, and any timely submitted party responses to panel questions, the panel will submit a recommendation to the provost regarding disposition of the grievance no later than twenty (20) business days after the date the panel received the grievance and response from the provost.
7. Oral Presentation. At a date and time determined by the provost after consulting with the parties, the grievant and the administrator will have an opportunity to address the provost via Zoom or Teams and present their position and rationale regarding the proposed discipline. Each party is allotted a total of twenty (20) minutes. The grievant will go first and may reserve up to five (5) minutes of their allotted time for closing remarks. Following the administrator’s presentation, the grievant may present closing remarks using any reserved time. Each party may be accompanied by a representative with whom they may consult, but oral presentations must be made solely by the parties. Parties will not be permitted extra time beyond their allotted twenty minutes.
8. Provost’s Delegate. The provost may assign provost responsibilities under this Policy to a delegate.

Grievance Decision
1. Provost’s Decision. After considering the grievance, any timely submitted response, any timely submitted supporting materials, the panel’s recommendation, and the parties’ oral presentations, the provost will send the parties and the panel a written decision upholding, modifying, or disallowing the proposed discipline and summarizing the provost’s reasons for doing so. If the provost believes that significant fact questions preclude resolution of the grievance, the provost may ask the panel to perform additional factual inquiries and issue additional recommendations.
2. Discretionary Review by President. A grievant or administrator who is dissatisfied with the provost’s decision may ask the president to review the provost’s decision.
  1. Request for discretionary review. A request for discretionary review must be in writing, briefly state the party’s complaints about the provost’s decision, and attach a copy of the provost’s decision. The request for discretionary review must be submitted via email to president@utexas.edu within five (5) business days after the provost’s decision unless the president extends the deadline before or after its expiration for good cause. The last day on which the president may extend the deadline is two days after the original deadline. The president’s decision on extending the deadline is final and not appealable. The party seeking discretionary review must copy the opposing party and the provost on the email seeking discretionary review. The opposing party may submit a response to the request but is not required to do so unless the president requests one as provided in section V.B.2.
  2. President’s decision. After reviewing the request for discretionary review, the president will deny the request or ask the provost to forward copies of the grievance, any timely submitted response, any timely submitted supporting materials, the panel’s recommendation, and any other materials the provost relied on to adjudicate the grievance. If the president requests those materials, the president will, after reviewing the materials, grant or deny the request for discretionary review. The president may ask the opposing party to submit a written response to the request for discretionary review, but the opposing party otherwise need not submit a response. If the president grants the request for discretionary review, the president will review the provost’s decision and, after due consideration of the relevant materials, issue a written decision affirming or modifying the provost’s decision. The president must notify the parties, the panel, and the provost of every decision or request the president makes under this section.
3. Final resolution of grievance. The provost’s decision regarding the grievance becomes final if the period for seeking discretionary review expires without either a request for discretionary review or an extension by the president of the request deadline. If the president denies a timely request for discretionary review, the provost’s decision becomes final at the time of the president’s decision. If the president chooses to review the provost’s decision, the president’s decision affirming or modifying the provost’s decision is the final decision and is effective upon issuance. The final decision is not appealable.

Request for early effectuation of discipline. An administrator may request to have a disciplinary action take effect prior to the final resolution of the grievance in circumstances where early effectuation would further the best interests of the university. The administrator may, in exigent circumstances, submit such a request prior to receiving the teaching assistant or assistant instructor’s response to the notice of proposed discipline or the expiration of the period for submitting such a response.
1. Request. The administrator must make a written request to the provost describing the basis for disciplining the grievant, the evidence supporting the proposed discipline, and the reasons why allowing the discipline to take effect prior to final disposition of the grievance furthers the best interests of the University. The administrator must provide a copy of the request to the grievant at the same time the request is submitted to the provost.
2. Response. The grievant may submit to the provost a written response to the administrator’s request within two (2) business days after receiving a copy of the request unless the provost extends the deadline, before or after its expiration, for good cause.
3. Decision. At any time after (1) the provost receives the grievant’s timely response to the request or (2) the time to submit a response has passed without a response having been submitted, the provost may decide whether to allow the proposed discipline to take effect prior to final disposition of the grievance. When feasible, the provost should seek to make that determination within two business days after the earlier of (1) receipt of the grievant’s timely response, or (2) the expiration of the grievant’s time to respond.
  1. Grievances involving termination during the term of appointment. If the provost determines that the allegations would, if proven, constitute good cause for termination and are supported by credible evidence, the provost may suspend the teaching assistant or assistant instructor with pay pending final resolution of the grievance if the provost determines that doing so is in the best interests of the University.
  2. Grievances involving discipline other than termination during the term of appointment. If the provost determines that the allegations would, if proven, justify the disciplinary action assessed and are supported by credible evidence, the provost may allow the discipline to take effect immediately pending the final resolution of the grievance if the provost determines that doing so is in the best interests of the University.
4. Effect of Decision. A determination by the provost that allowing a disciplinary action to take effect prior to the final resolution of the grievance is not appealable and does not terminate the grievance.

Retaliation Prohibited. A faculty member, staff member, or administrator who retaliates in any way against a teaching assistant or assistant instructor who has brought a grievance pursuant to this policy or against an employee who has participated in a review of the grievance is subject to disciplinary action.

Exclusions. These procedures do not apply to matters handled under HOP 3-3031, “Prohibition of Sexual Assault, Interpersonal Violence, Stalking, Sexual Harassment, and Sex Discrimination” or HOP 3-3020, “Nondiscrimination Policy.” Complaints covered by those policies should be submitted to the Department of Investigation and Adjudication (“DIA”), which maintains exclusive jurisdiction to consider those matters. Discipline assigned based on a finding of violation of those provisions is not grievable under this Policy. Interim measures assigned by Title IX Office are not grievable as discipline under this Policy.

For Assistance: Questions regarding this policy should be directed to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at (512) 471-4363 or at its website: h ttp://www.utexas.edu/provost/.

Modified: February 9, 2024 (Interim Policy)
Interim Extension: August 15, 2024

Modified: March 13, 2014

Previously HOP 4.03