San Francisco.

A grievance filed by UPEC at Golden Gate National Recreation Area has recently resulted in a member having his yearly evaluation changed from an overall rating of “Minimally Successful” to an overall rating of “Superior”.

UPEC member Bruce Badzik, who works as a Pest Controller for the National Park Service at GGNRA, received what he felt to be an unfair evaluation from his direct supervisor for his most recent year. As a dues paying union member, Bruce knew that he could reach out to his Union for assistance in contesting a biased evaluation.

Labor Relations Representative Ryan Heron was able to meet with Bruce to examine and go over the evaluation. Together, Ryan and Bruce were able to identify several inconsistencies throughout the evaluation. It became clear that this evaluation was leaving out critical facts, useful context, and contained flat out untrue statements.

The Union contract at GGNRA allows for members to file grievances over inaccurate performance evaluations. The Union brought forth a grievance. At Step I, the Union met with the Supervisor who wrote the grievance. After pointing out the factual inaccuracies and lack of context, the Supervisor denied the grievance and upheld the evaluation.

Undeterred, the Union brought the grievance to step II, to be heard by the Division Chief. A meeting with the Division Chief was scheduled shortly thereafter, and the Union presented the case accordingly. After consideration, the Division Chief upheld the grievance, changing the rating from minimally successful, to superior.

When supervisors write unfair and inaccurate performance evaluations, it can permanently hinder an employee. Sometimes supervisors may be biased because they do not like an individual based on something that has nothing to do with performance. Sometimes supervisors have it out for an employee because they ask too many questions or know too much. In those cases, UPEC is there to challenge those biased evaluations and protect their members from being treated unfairly. UPEC aggressively and successfully defends its members from unfair treatment from supervisors.