A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT providing for the mediation of state employee grievances under the state personnel act and relating to the time frame for contested cases under G.S. 126‑34.1.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 126‑34 reads as rewritten:
"§ 126‑34.  Grievance appeal for career State employees.
Unless otherwise provided in this Chapter, any career State employee having a grievance arising out of or due to the employee's employment and who does not allege unlawful harassment or discrimination because of the employee's age, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, creed, handicapping condition as defined by G.S. 168A‑3, or political affiliation shall follow the grievance procedure established by the employee's department or agency. The internal grievance procedure of each State agency, department, institution, and The University of North Carolina shall include mediation as the first step of the procedure. Any State employee having a grievance arising out of or due to the employee's employment who alleges unlawful harassment because of the employee's age, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, creed, or handicapping condition as defined by G.S. 168A‑3 shall submit a written complaint to the employee's department or agency. The department or agency shall have 60 days within which to take appropriate remedial action. If the employee is not satisfied with the department or agency's response to the complaint, the employee shall have the right to appeal directly to the State Personnel Commission."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 126‑34.1 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(f)	The Office of Administrative Hearings must conduct a contested case hearing and render a decision on cases filed under this section no later than 210 days from the date the case was filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings. If the Office of Administrative Hearings fails to complete the contested case hearing process in 210 days of the date filed, the petitioner who filed the case may petition the Superior Court of Wake County for a hearing de novo."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to State employee grievances that arise on or after that date.