Overview
Under the direction of the Director of Employee & Labor Relations and Assistant Director of Employee & Labor Relations the Senior Employee Relations Investigator/Consultant provides guidance, support and expertise in employee relations matters to include discipline, coaching, performance management, and HR policy interpretation. Key objectives include ensuring legal compliance and adherence to UMass Chan policies and procedures in a consistent, objective and fair fashion. Provides guidance to managers and employees on employee relations issues, investigates formal complaints, makes recommendations on UMass Chan’s complaint response, and ensure legal requirements are met in terms of employee relations, in order to minimize liability to UMass Chan. This position also collaborates with other HR team members to address organizational needs and contributes to a range of projects to implement HR strategies (i.e., organizational behavior, change management, policy implementation). The Senior Employee Relations Investigator/Consultant will provide guidance to other Employee Relation Consultants and staff in the absence of the Director and/or Assistant Director.
Responsibilities
- Conduct complex internal investigations regarding potential misconduct and violations of UMass Chan policy, including but not limited to, issues of discrimination, sexual harassment, and uncivil behavior.
- Serves as the main Title IX Investigator for the UMass Chan campus
- Prepare comprehensive fact-finding reports on completed investigations.
- Prepares Position Statements in response to complaints filed with state and federal administrative agencies, including, but not limited to, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission
- Lead assigned major/complex projects in a variety of employee relations-related areas. Provide direction and guidance to assigned staff and consultants for the satisfactory performance of projects.
- Partner with and serve as a resource to employees and managers to promote and maintain positive employee relations.
- Maintain relationships with managers to proactively identify, manage and resolve employee relations matters.
- Propose resolutions to complex and highly sensitive employee relations issues.
- Advise and influence all levels of management regarding resolution employee relations decisions.
- Interprets and applies UMass Chan policies and procedures, applicable federal and state laws and regulations to decision impacting employer-employee relations.
- Coach and counsel management and staff on the performance management process.
- Serves as an Adjudication Officer for the new hire background check process.
- Ensure consistency, communication, and collaboration in a matrixed environment.
- Conduct exit interviews.
- Uses HR employee relations metrics to identify trends and root causes; develop proactive solutions and programs utilizing best practices in support of the HR strategy.
- Proactively minimize legal risk by ensuring clients comply with UMass Chan policies and procedures.
- Participate in employee training programs as required.
- Ensure employee relations tracking systems are accurate and complete.
- Supports and promotes the HR mission.
- Collaborate with HR services to develop and deliver solutions to support client groups.
- Partners/collaborates with other HR functions to deliver excellent service to the customer.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- JD or equivalent experience
- Five years of employee relations experience to include conducting complex workplace investigations.
- Demonstrated experience in writing comprehensive investigation reports.
- Ability to provide credible HR guidance to and influence management at all levels.
- Proven experience coaching and counseling all levels of staff on a wide variety of issues, and a thorough understanding of employment law.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrates credibility and integrity in communications.
- Demonstrated experience in conflict resolution, mediation, facilitation.
- Demonstrated team player.
- Strong customer focus.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, in order to successfully interface at all levels of the organization.
- Computer skills in MS office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), PeopleSoft and HRIS.
- Strong business acumen and a working knowledge of multiple HR disciplines.
- Analytical and problem-solving skills including the ability to analyze data, understand trends, develop recommendations.
- Ability to travel between business locations.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- PHR or SPHR certification
- Lean experience a plus
- Prior experience in a lead role or with facilitating large complex projects
Organization
Realize Your Opportunities – A Career at UMASS Medical School
Inside Workings at UMASS Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), the Commonwealth's only public medical school, is proud of our role in serving the people of Massachusetts. Although, its the inside workings of UMMS that makes the difference.
Mission and Culture
- We’re serious about our mission and about our people.
- Real World Impact - Our people get excited about our mission of real-world impact in health sciences education, research and public service.
- International Prominence and New Opportunities - As this institution has grown to national – and international – prominence, we’ve found new opportunities to train tomorrow’s physicians, nurses and scientists, discover causes of and cures for disease and help improve the quality of health care.
- Deep Commitment - With our clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care, and our other teaching affiliates, we share a deep commitment to national distinction in patient care.
- Valued Partnerships – UMMS partners with Commonwealth Medicine, the health care consulting arm of UMMS. Also, UMMS partners with MassBiologics in scientific collaborations, technology management and creating partnerships for the development of products for the benefit of patients. These valued partnerships help us to provide services and programs to help meet our needs at UMMS and the public.
- Proud Contributors - People at UMMS enjoy the feeling of going to work every day knowing what they do is truly important and worthwhile.
- Complementary and Inseparable - These varied parts of our mission and culture are complementary and inseparable.
Careers
UMMS, the state’s first and only public academic health sciences center, educates physicians, scientists and advanced practice nurses to heal, discover, teach and care, with compassion. UMMS is a world-class institution with opportunities to match.
Competitive Compensation – UMMS offers salaries that are competitive with Worcester-area employers. When combined with our generous benefits, perks, and paid time off, many job seekers are surprised to find a total rewards package that matches or exceeds their current situation.
Targeted Hiring Process – At UMMS, there are actually multiple hiring processes for different segments of our workforce. In nearly all cases, UMMS hiring process is decentralized, with qualified candidates screened and referred to an academic officer or manager with hiring authority.
24/7 Access to Employment Opportunities – iCIMS is our online job search and application system. iCIMS is available 24/7 to provide you with a convenient and up-to-date view of the available employment opportunities across our campuses. Updates are made daily and include all faculty and non-faculty position listings from every school and department within the UMMS. When you identify a position you are interested in and qualified for, apply online. New opportunities become available frequently so it pays to check back often!
Benefits
With outstanding benefits, competitive pay, extensive learning opportunities, and a stimulating and attractive work environment, UMMS may be exactly the employer you’ve been looking for.
- Superior Benefits - UMMS offers a wide range of benefits and perks that invite comparison with the best employers in the Worcester area – and with academic institutions anywhere. UMMS provides superior medical and dental coverage for you and your family, fully funded retirement plans, generous time off, a Tuition Assistance Plan – and much more.
- People Centered - UMMS is an employer, but it is also a community. Its comprehensive medical and dental benefits, retirement plans, and even paid holidays reflect an institution built around people, with a deep respect for their differences and needs.
- Commitment to Healthy Living - UMMS provides resources to help you balance work and life and encourages healthy living through great programs and discounts for fitness, physical activity, weight management, nutritional counseling and general wellness available through our health insurance plans.
- Breadth of Offerings - Above all, the breadth of UMMS offerings set the School apart and makes it an environment favored by all sorts of smart, career-savvy people.
Apply for a Job
As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, UMMS recognizes the power of a diverse community and encourages applications from individuals with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.
Online - To view all job opportunities and apply online, visit www.umassmed.edu/hr and click on the “Careers” tab.
Start Now and Realize Your Opportunities!
A History of Making Vital Improvements - UMASS Medical School Milestones
- 1962: Legislation establishes University of Massachusetts Medical School
- 1970: First medical students begin classes in Shaw Building
- 1974: First class graduates 16 MDs
- 1979: PhD program begins
- 1986: Graduate School of Nursing opens
- 1986: PhD program becomes Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- 1994: Graduate School of Nursing initiates PhD program
- 1998: UMass Clinical System and Memorial Health Care merge to form UMass Memorial Health Care
- 2001: Lazare Research Building opens
- 2002: Campus Modernization begins on the University Campus
- 2004: Graduate Entry Pathway Program established at the Graduate School of Nursing
- 2005: PhD Program in Clinical & Population Health Research established at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- 2005: Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories opens new manufacturing and filling facility in Mattapan
- 2006: Craig Mello, PhD, Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, is awarded the Medical School's first Nobel Prize. Dr. Mello shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Fire, PhD, of Stanford University, for their discoveries related to RNA interference.
- 2007: Michael F. Collins, MD, is named chancellor and Terence R. Flotte, MD, is named dean of the School of Medicine.
- 2009: Groundbreaking for the Albert Sherman Center, a 500,000-square-foot research and education facility slated for completion in 2012.
- 2010: Ambulatory Care Center opens
- 2012: The Albert Sherman Center, a 500,000-square-foot research and education facility, completed and opens
