§76-42  Internal complaint procedures. (a)  The director shall promulgate a uniform plan for the creation of internalcomplaint procedures in the various departments that shall apply to matterswithin the jurisdiction of the merit appeals board.  The internal complaintprocedures may also be used for other matters, such as, when a complaintprocedure is required by law to be available or when a jurisdiction deems itwould be beneficial to avoid the time and expense of litigation; provided thatmatters subject to collective bargaining grievance procedures shall not beprocessed under the internal complaint procedures.  The rules relating tointernal complaint procedures shall conform to the following:

(1)  The procedures shall encourage informaldiscussions and expeditious resolution of all complaints.  Informal resolutionincludes the use of any administrative review process available.  A writtendecision shall be issued to the complainant on the outcome of any efforts toresolve the complaint informally and, if not resolved, the decision shall beaccompanied by information on the filing of a formal complaint with thedepartment or the merit appeals board, as applicable.

(2)  In presenting a complaint, the complainant shallbe assured freedom from coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.

(3)  The complainant shall have the right to berepresented by a person or persons of the complainant's own choosing at anystage in the presentation of the complaint.

(4)  To minimize confusion and possible loss ofrights, the time and manner for filing a formal complaint shall be as uniformand easily understandable as possible to the employees or general public. Complaint forms, instructions, and the complaint procedures should be easilyaccessible to the employees or general public and the procedures should allowfor complaints to be filed at central locations convenient to the public.  Thecomplaint shall be referred to the appropriate individual at the lowest levelof the internal complaint procedures who has the authority to act on thecomplaint and who shall be responsible for contacting the complainant.  If itis discovered after filing of the complaint that the matter complained of isnot within the authority of a department to act, the department shall notifythe complainant accordingly and refer the complaint to the appropriate agency,if known.  The deadline for filing a formal complaint under the internalcomplaint procedures shall be tolled after receipt of a reply to the informalcomplaint if efforts were made to resolve the complaint informally.

(5)  All proceedings relating to the handling of acomplaint by a person who is not an employee shall as far as practicable beconducted during office hours at times convenient to the complainant.  Allproceedings relating to the handling of employee complaints shall so far aspracticable be conducted during the employee's work hours to permit theemployee time off from work with pay.

(6)  The departmental complaint procedure shallculminate in a written decision by the chief executive or the chief executive'sdesignee, whether the director or other appropriate authority who is assignedresponsibility for making the final decision on the action being complained of.

(b)  The internal complaint procedures shall beexhausted before an appeal is filed with the merit appeals board.  If theappeal is not under the jurisdiction of the merit appeals board, but some otheradministrative agency or appellate body, the complainant is responsible for thetimely filing of an appeal with the appropriate agency regardless of whetherthe internal complaint procedures under this section are used. [L 1955, c 274,pt of §1; RL 1955, §3-21(v); am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §11; HRS §76-42; gen ch1985; am L 1994, c 56, §21; am L 2000, c 253, §24]