What is the right to representation when a grievance is filed?
When an employee files a grievance under the process established in the parties’ negotiated grievance procedure and designates the union as his/her representative, an agency must deal with the union representative and cannot deal alone with the employee. Even when an employee does not designate the union as his/her representative in a grievance, the union, as the exclusive representative of all bargaining unit employees, must still be afforded the opportunity to be present at any meetings about that grievance and the employee can have no other personal representative.
