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21-1-702. Grievances.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
21-1-702. Grievances.
(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall establish a procedure for the filing, hearing, adjudication, and appeal of grievances by state agencies.
(b)(1) An employee of a state agency may file a grievance under this subchapter if his or her termination or suspension from employment was inconsistent with the terminating or suspending state agency's disciplinary policy.
(2) At the hearing on or appeal of the grievance filed under this subchapter, the sole issue for the trier of fact shall be whether the state agency's decision concerning termination or suspension was consistent with the state agency's disciplinary policy.
(c)(1)(A) The procedure established under subsection (a) of this section shall provide without limitation that an employee be afforded a hearing within fifteen (15) business days of the filing of his or her appeal if the employee alleges that he or she was terminated by a state agency for the following actions under § 21-1-603:
(i) Communicating in good faith to an appropriate authority:
(a) The existence of waste of public funds, property, or manpower, including federal funds, property, or manpower administered or controlled by a public employer; or
(b) A violation or suspected violation of a law or rule adopted under the law of this state or a political subdivision of the state;
(ii) Participating or giving information in an investigation, hearing, court proceeding, legislative or other inquiry, or in any form of administrative review;
(iii) Objecting to or refusing to carry out a directive that the employee reasonably believes violates a law or rule adopted under the authority of the laws of the state or a political subdivision of the state; or
(iv) Reporting a loss of public funds under § 25-1-124.
(B) A
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 21-1-702
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:21-1-702
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.21.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: e29f0748132df2085d8c96285b39ff954526d307879e06bec764e4411d21daeb
Source location: content.xml paragraph 789
Stored source content
21-1-702. Grievances.
(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall establish a procedure for the filing, hearing, adjudication, and appeal of grievances by state agencies.
(b)(1) An employee of a state agency may file a grievance under this subchapter if his or her termination or suspension from employment was inconsistent with the terminating or suspending state agency's disciplinary policy.
(2) At the hearing on or appeal of the grievance filed under this subchapter, the sole issue for the trier of fact shall be whether the state agency's decision concerning termination or suspension was consistent with the state agency's disciplinary policy.
(c)(1)(A) The procedure established under subsection (a) of this section shall provide without limitation that an employee be afforded a hearing within fifteen (15) business days of the filing of his or her appeal if the employee alleges that he or she was terminated by a state agency for the following actions under § 21-1-603:
(i) Communicating in good faith to an appropriate authority:
(a) The existence of waste of public funds, property, or manpower, including federal funds, property, or manpower administered or controlled by a public employer; or
(b) A violation or suspected violation of a law or rule adopted under the law of this state or a political subdivision of the state;
(ii) Participating or giving information in an investigation, hearing, court proceeding, legislative or other inquiry, or in any form of administrative review;
(iii) Objecting to or refusing to carry out a directive that the employee reasonably believes violates a law or rule adopted under the authority of the laws of the state or a political subdivision of the state; or
(iv) Reporting a loss of public funds under § 25-1-124.
(B) A hearing under subdivision (c)(1)(A) of this section shall take place before the occurrence of a state agency hearing pursuant to the grievance filed by the person.
(C)(i)(a) An employee requesting a hearing under subdivision (c)(1)(A) of this section shall submit with his or her request for a hearing evidence that he or she committed one (1) of the actions under subdivisions (c)(1)(A)(i)-(iv) of this section.
(b) Evidence under this subdivision (c)(1)(C)(i) that is confidential under § 21-1-607 or other provisions of law shall remain confidential when submitted in support of a request for a hearing or otherwise utilized in the appeal of the grievance decision.
(ii) If the person fails to demonstrate that he or she committed one (1) of the actions under subdivisions (c)(1)(A)(i)-(iv) of this section, the office shall not schedule a hearing under subdivision (c)(1)(A) of this section.
(2) If the employee demonstrates at the hearing that a reasonable person would conclude that the state agency terminated the employee as a result of the employee's activities under subdivisions (c)(1)(A)(i)-(iv) of this section, the employee shall be:
(A) Reinstated to his or her position until the conclusion of the grievance review procedure under this section; or
(B) Reinstated to his or her position and placed on administrative leave until the conclusion of the grievance review procedure under this section.
(3) An employee filing an appeal of a grievance decision under this section does not waive his or her right to file a claim under the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act, § 21-1-601 et seq.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
21-1-601. Title.
This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act”.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 21-1-601
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 21-1-601. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
21-1-603. Public employer conduct prohibited — Good faith communication.
(a)(1) A public employer shall not take adverse action against a public employee because the public employee or a person authorized to act on behalf of the public employee communicates in good faith to an appropriate authority:
(A) The existence of waste of public funds, property, or manpower, including federal funds, property, or manpower administered or controlled by a public employer; or
(B) A violation or suspected violation of a law, rule, or regulation adopted under the law of this state or a political subdivision of the state.
(2) The communication shall be made at a time and in a manner which gives the public employer reasonable notice of need to correct the waste or violation.
(b)(1) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, a public employee communicates in good faith if there is a reasonable basis in fact for the communication of the existence of waste or of a violation.
(2) Good faith is lacking when the public employee does not have personal knowledge of a factual basis for the communication or when the public employee knew or reasonably should have known that the communication of the waste or of the violation was malicious, false, or frivolous.
(c) A public employer shall not take an adverse action against a public employee because the employee participates or gives information in an investigation, hearing, court proceeding, legislative or other inquiry, or in any form of administrative review.
(d) A public employer shall not take an adverse action against a public employee because an employee has objected to or refused to carry out a directive that the employee reasonably believes violates a law or a rule or regulation adopted under the authority of laws of the
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 21-1-603
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 21-1-603. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
21-1-607. Protection of confidentiality.
(a) This subchapter shall not be construed to permit a disclosure which would diminish or impair the rights of any person or any public official to the continued protection of confidentiality of records or working papers where a statute or the common law provides for protection.
(b)(1) All materials and documentation, including without limitation notes, memoranda, recordings, preliminary drafts of investigation reports, and other data gathered in connection with a communication regarding the existence of waste or of a violation, are privileged and confidential and are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et seq., except as provided in subdivisions (b)(2) and (3) of this section.
(2) Final reports issued by a public employer or an appropriate authority concerning a communication regarding the existence of waste or of a violation and any supporting documentation shall be open to public inspection and copying, except for documents that are exempt from disclosure under other law.
(3) This section does not apply to the name and identifying information of a state employee eligible to receive a reward under § 21-1-610 who does not request confidentiality under § 21-1-610(g).
(c) This section applies without limitation to communications regarding the existence of waste or of a violation received by a telephone hotline allowing for the reporting of fraud, waste, or abuse in government.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 21-1-607
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 21-1-607. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
25-1-124. Reporting by public employee — Definitions.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Public employee” means a person who performs a full or part-time service for wages, salary, or other remuneration for a public employer; and
(2) “Public employer” means any of the following:
(A) An agency, department, board, commission, division, office, bureau, council, authority, or other instrumentality of the State of Arkansas, including the offices of the various Arkansas-elected constitutional officers and the General Assembly and its agencies, bureaus, and divisions;
(B) A state-supported college, university, technical college, community college, or other institution of higher education or department, division, or agency of a state institution of higher education;
(C) The Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the circuit courts, and the prosecuting attorneys' offices;
(D) An office, department, commission, council, agency, board, bureau, committee, corporation, or other instrumentality of a county government or a municipality or a district court, a county subordinate service district, a municipally-owned utility, or a regional or joint governing body of one (1) or more counties or municipalities; or
(E) A public school district, school, or an office or department of a public school district in Arkansas.
(b)(1) A public employee with supervisory fiduciary responsibility over all fiscal matters of a public employer shall report to Arkansas Legislative Audit a loss of public funds that amounts to one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more in one (1) calendar year, including without limitation:
(A) Apparent unauthorized disbursements of public funds; or
(B) The apparent theft or misappropriation of public funds or property.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 25-1-124
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 25-1-124. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.