If informal procedures and consultation do not provide resolution of a dispute involving a faculty member, it may be necessary to resort to formal dispute resolution procedures (discussed briefly below).

For information about any form of discrimination or harassment, contact the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office (ECRT).

• To obtain a copy of the formal grievance procedure for your unit, contact the dean’s office, the Faculty Senate Office, the Office of Academic Human Resources, or the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel.
• Any questions regarding the appropriate venue should be directed to the Academic Human Resources Office.
• For information about additional services on the UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn campuses, contact the Human Resources office on each campus.

Formal grievance procedures are available to all faculty with complaints concerning the terms and conditions of their employment. Each school and college has adopted a faculty grievance policy, based on a model Faculty Grievance Procedure. Academic Human Resources maintains a list of school and college grievance procedures.

Formal grievance procedures are available when there is a charge that the school or a department has reached a manifestly unfair decision concerning an aspect of an eligible grievant’s employment. Grievants may challenge all aspects of the decision-making process except those that involve conclusionary judgments about professional competence. The procedures are not available for challenges to the desirability of unit or University policy, nor are they available for claims that are patently frivolous or without merit. The procedures all have time limits within which one must bring a claim, so it is important to determine the time limit that applies in each case. Most procedures stipulate that a grievant has 90 calendar days from the date the grievant first knew or could reasonably have been expected to know of the decision or event that gave rise to the grievance to request the formation of a formal faculty review board. (This time period is 90 days for the UM-Dearborn campus and 120 days for the University library.) The procedures typically require a grievant to first try to resolve a dispute informally with the person who made the decision or who has the authority to provide redress before filing a formal grievance.