Riverside Community Care (Riverside) is fully committed to conducting all Continuing Education activities for which Social Work CE’s are awarded in strict conformance with the ACE Requirements. Riverside will comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content, and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of the Lead LICSW Consultant (SW CE Chair), and the Training Committee Chair in consultation with the members of the Riverside Training Committee, the Riverside Social Work Continuing Education Committee, and the Riverside Director of Quality Management.
While Riverside goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues which come to the attention of the continuing education staff which require intervention and/or action on the part of the staff or an officer of Riverside. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.
When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance or expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken.
1. If the grievance concerns a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put his/her comments in written format. The SW CE Chair will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.
2. If the grievance concerns a workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the SW CE Chair and the Director of Training will mediate and will be the final arbitrators. If the participant requests action, the SW CE Chair and the Director of Training and Professional Development will:
- attempt to move the participant to another workshop or
- provide a credit for a subsequent workshop or
- provide a partial or full refund of the workshop fee.
Actions 2b and 2c will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the grieved individual.
3. If the grievance concerns the lack of provision of appropriate accommodations requested by persons with disabilities, the SW CE Chair and the Director of Training will mediate and will be the final arbitrators. If the participant requests action, the SW CE Chair and the Director of Training and Professional Development will:
- attempt to move the participant to another workshop or
- provide a credit for a subsequent workshop or
- provide a partial or full refund of the workshop fee.
Actions 3b and 3c will require a written note, documenting the grievance, for record keeping purposes. The note need not be signed by the grieved individual.
4. If the grievance concerns Riverside’s CE program, in a specific regard, the SW CE Chair will attempt to arbitrate.
Please contact Jenny Huynh or Helen Boyle to submit a complaint or if you have additional questions.
