Grievance Procedure

UNC School of Social Work is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the requirements set forth by the Association of Social Work Boards, the National Board of Certified Counselors, and with American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists. UNC School of Social Work will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content, and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of the Education Chair in consultation with the members of the continuing education committee, the UNC School of Social Work Ethics Chairperson, and the Convention Chairperson.

While UNC School of Social Work goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues that come to the attention of the convention staff which require intervention and/or action on the part of the convention staff or an officer of UNC School of Social Work. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.

When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken:

1. If the grievance concerns a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put their comments in written format. The CE Chair will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.

2. If the grievance concerns a workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the convention chair will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action, the convention chair will:

a) attempt to move the participant to another workshop or
b) provide a credit to be applied to another workshop or
c) provide a partial or full refund of the workshop fee.

Actions 2b and 2c will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record-keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the grieved individual.

3. If the grievance concerns the UNC School of Social Work CE program, in a specific regard, the CE Chair will convene the internal CE Advisory Committee and then attempt to arbitrate.

Contact name: Deborah Barrett
Email: dbarrett@unc.edu
Telephone number: (919) 843-5818
Address: 325 Pittsboro Street, UNC School of Social Work, CB# 3550, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550