Section 49.10 - Grievance Procedure(1)Requirements for Grievance Procedures. An administering agency's grievance procedure shall provide for the following: (a) A grievance shall be initiated by a participant in writing and shall be mailed or delivered to the administering agency at its main office within 14 calendar days after the date of notification was sent, which has been given to the participant by the administering agency, provided that the administering agency shall have discretion to permit a grievance to be initiated late. The administering agency shall permit additional time for initiation of a grievance if the administering agency shall find that there was a good reason for late initiation of the grievance and that the late initiation would not cause prejudice to the administering agency.
(b)Informal Settlement Conference. Promptly after the initiation of a grievance, the administering agency shall offer the grievant the opportunity to discuss the grievance informally in an attempt to settle the grievance without the necessity of a grievance hearing. The administering agency shall give reasonable advance notice to the grievant and his or her representative (if any) of a time and place for an informal settlement conference, unless such a conference shall have taken place when the grievance was delivered to the administering agency. If a matter is not resolved at the informal settlement conference, a grievance hearing shall be held. Failure to attend an informal settlement conference shall not affect a grievant's right to a grievance hearing.(c)Hearing Date and Notice of Hearing. A grievance hearing regarding whether good cause exists for terminating a voucher shall be scheduled as soon as possible, but no later than 21 calendar days or as soon as reasonably practical after the date on which the administering agency receives the grievance. A hearing of a grievance regarding some other issue, shall be scheduled as soon as reasonably convenient following receipt of the grievance. Two or more Administering Agencies may share staffing responsibilities to conduct such hearings. The administering agency shall give reasonable advance written notice of the time and place of the hearing to the grievant and to his or her representative (if any). The administering agency, the hearing panel, or the hearing officer may reschedule a hearing by agreement or upon a showing by grievant or by the administering agency that rescheduling is reasonably necessary.
(d)Pre-hearing Examination of Relevant Documents. Prior to a grievance hearing the administering agency shall give the grievant or his or her representative a reasonable opportunity to examine administering agency documents which are directly relevant to the grievance. Following a timely request, the administering agency shall provide copies of such documents to grievant and, for good cause (including financial hardship), may waive the charge for the copies.(e)Persons Entitled to be Present. At the hearing the administering agency and the grievant may be represented by a lawyer or by a non-lawyer. Each person present at the hearing shall conduct himself or herself in an orderly manner or he or she shall be excluded.(f)Procedure at Grievance Hearings. The hearing panel or the hearing officer shall conduct the grievance hearing in a fair manner without undue delay. The hearing panel or the hearing officer shall initially take appropriate steps to define the issues. Thereafter, relevant information, including testimony of witnesses and written material, shall be received regarding such issues. Both the grievant and the administering agency shall be entitled to question each other's witnesses. Procedure at the hearing shall be informal, and formal rules of evidence shall not apply. The hearing shall be recorded. The members of the hearing panel or the hearing officer may question witnesses and may take notice of matters of common knowledge and applicable laws, regulations and administering agency rules and policies. The panel members or the hearing officer may request the administering agency or the grievant to produce additional information which is relevant to the issues or which is necessary for a decision to be made provided that the other party is provided an opportunity to respond to such additional information.(g)Written Decision; Effect of Decision. Within 14 calendar days following the hearing or as soon thereafter as reasonably possible the hearing panel or the hearing officer shall provide the administering agency with a written decision on the grievance, describing the factual situation and ordering whatever relief, if any, that shall be appropriate under the circumstances and under applicable laws, regulations, rules and/or policies. The decision shall be based on the evidence at the grievance hearing and such additional information as may have been requested by the panel members or the hearing officer. The administering agency shall forthwith mail or otherwise deliver a copy of the decision to the grievant and his or her representative. A copy of the decision (with names and personal identifiers deleted) shall thereafter be maintained at the administering agency and shall be open to public inspection.(h) Review by the administering agency's Board or other equivalent body, as designated by the administering agency. The grievant or the administering agency may request review of the decision by the administering agency's Board or other equivalent body, as designated by the administering agency. The Board or other equivalent body shall promptly decide whether to uphold, set aside or modify the decision after permitting the administering agency and grievant to make oral presentations and submit documentation. The Board or other equivalent body may also permit the hearing officer or hearing panel to make a presentation. The decision of the Board or other equivalent body shall be in writing and shall explain its reasoning. If a written decision is not rendered within 45 calendar days from the date a review is requested, the decision of the Board or other equivalent body, when rendered, shall specify a reason showing that there has been no undue delay.(i)Review by the Department. In the event that the administering agency's Board or other equivalent body shall make a material change in a decision of the hearing panel or the hearing officer, upon written request of the administering agency or the grievant within 14 calendar days of mailing or other delivery of the decision, the Department shall review the decision of the Board or other equivalent body. The Department may request written documentation from the parties. The Department will review all submitted materials and will render a written decision after consideration of the facts presented upholding, setting aside or modifying the decision of the Board or other equivalent body.(j)Effect of a Decision on a Grievance. The last rendered decision on a grievance shall be binding between the administering agency and the grievant with respect to the particular circumstances involved in the grievance, provided that a participant must exhaust all administrative remedies prior to seeking review in court. If a participant does not timely pursue the appropriate administrative remedy in accordance with the grievance process and timeframes specified in 760 CMR 49.00, that level of review shall be deemed to be waived. If a court has jurisdiction to determine a matter which has been subject to decision on a grievance, the court's determination on the matter shall supersede the decision on the grievance. As between the administering agency and any person who was not a grievant, the decision on a grievance shall have no binding effect.(k) The administering agency shall continue to pay the MRVP voucher payment to the owner on behalf of the MRVP participant, until the MRVP participant's voucher has been terminated and the MRVP participant has ceased to pursue the grievance process in accordance with the requirements of 760 CMR 49.00, so long as a court of competent jurisdiction has not declared that the MRVP participant is no longer a valid tenant in the contract unit.Amended by Mass Register Issue 1343, eff. 7/14/2017.