In cases of appeal to an arbitrator, each party is responsible for any expense incurred in the preparation and presentation of its own case and for any record or transcript it may desire. Upon the formal or informal initiation of a grievance an employee designated as a grievance procedure representative shall not suffer any loss of pay for investigating, processing or testifying in any step of the grievance procedure. Release time from normal work schedules is to be granted all witnesses to attend grievance hearings. Expenses incurred in connection with attendance by employees at grievance hearings shall be borne by the employee’s department. Similar grievances may be consolidated and processed together as a single issue. Where a number of individual grievances have been reduced into a single grievance, not more than three employees selected by and from the group may be excused from work to attend a grievance meeting called by the responsible administrator at step one and not more than five employees at steps two and three unless, at any step, prior permission is granted by the person hearing the grievance. Employee complaint forms shall be available in the campus personnel department. The University form shall be used. It is the responsibility of the head of each organizational unit to assure that each employee understands the channels of communication and appeal, specifically who is the department head or chairman and who acts in their absence. An employee may not leave the post of duty to engage in grievance handling without the knowledge of and permission from the designated supervisor. A formal grievance may be filed by the aggrieved employee; the request to appeal a grievance must bear the signature of the employee or the employee’s representative at each step of the procedure. A record of each grievance and its disposition shall be furnished to the employee involved. A file copy of each grievance shall be maintained at the last step at which the grievance was processed, and an additional copy shall be filed with the campus personnel department which shall be available to the employee or the employee’s representative. At any point in the grievance procedure, the employee may elect to obtain, change, or dismiss the representative by providing a written notice to the person hearing the grievance. However, the action does not allow the grievant to return to a previous step in the procedure. A hearing officer may exclude incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, and unduly repetitious evidence or witnesses. Each step of the grievance procedure shall be processed as quickly as practicable within the specified time limits. Failure to appeal at any step constitutes acceptance. Failure to answer is a denial to which an appeal may be made. By mutual agreement, the time limits and/or steps may be waived. It is the responsibility of each party to the grievance procedure at each step of the procedure to duplicate the grievance form prior to filing it with the employer or returning it to the employee and to retain one copy of the form. A grievance may start with a complaint or request by a permanent or temporary employee. An employee may be represented at every step of the grievance procedure by a party or organizational representative. An employee shall receive a copy of this grievance procedure upon employment at the University. Both parties shall make an effort to resolve the grievance at the lowest possible level. All grievance hearings shall be open hearings unless either party requests that the hearing be closed. At any step of the grievance procedure, either party may require that witnesses be excluded from the hearing room until called. Any party who elects to use this procedure for resolution of a problem is presumed to agree to abide by the final disposition arrived at in this procedure and the final disposition may not be subject to review under any other procedure within the University. Any question concerning the timeliness of a grievance or whether a complaint is subject to the grievance procedure shall be raised and resolved promptly, unless the person hearing the grievance or appeal determines that the decision on a motion to dismiss will be deferred pending a hearing on both the merits and the motion.