Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel

DUTIES

Reporting jointly to the Provost and Vice-President Academic and the Associate Vice-President, People and Culture, the Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel is a key member of the TRU People and Culture team and the Office of the Provost and is accountable for operational and strategic leadership and oversight of the full breadth of faculty relations functions and services offered at TRU.

The position is responsible for supporting TRU, the Office of the Provost and People and Culture by providing specialized legal and strategic advice on labour, employment, human rights, investigations, and collective bargaining matters.

The Director is responsible for strategic employee and faculty labour relations with a focus on building the strength of our leaders and teams and individual employees to address the TRU Strategic Goals.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Primary advisor to the Provost and Vice-President Academic and the Associate Vice-President, People and Culture regarding labour and employee relations matters related to TRUFA and TRUOLFA members.
• Interprets collective agreements and policies. Advises the Vice-Presidents, Deans, Chairs, Directors, and faculty members on matters relating to the interpretation and application of academic personnel policies and collective agreements.
• Supports and provides strategic advice to senior academic leaders to achieve their objectives by providing timely, high-quality advice on all matters related to labour and employee relations in a way that reflects the priorities and values of the institution.
• Using highly evolved problem-solving skills, conflict management, negotiation and superior communication skills, the Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel facilitates the resolution of labour and employment issues with faculty, leaders and Associations and manages related risk.
• Provides leadership in shaping labour relations strategy relating to bargaining and helping to shape strategic labour relations goals, including drafting bargaining plans. The Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel may serve as the chief negotiator for the university in the negotiation in one or more of the faculty Collective Agreements.
• Responsible for the implementation of the TRUFA and TRUOLFA collective agreements including training administrative personnel regarding changes to key policies and procedures.
• Participates in regular consultations with the TRUFA and TRUOLFA executive and represents the university on labour management committees acting as chair of these committees as necessary.
• Identifies, analyzes and assesses potential risks in the area of faculty relations and is responsible for the resolution of issues, grievances and arbitrations involving TRUFA and TRUOLFA members. The Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel establishes and maintains effective communication with TRUFA and TRUOLFA representatives.
• Supports the People and Culture Consultants and Advisors in providing a full range of labour relations services to ensure compliance and consistency of interpretation with applicable collective agreements, employment standards and the University’s employee policies. Provides coaching on employee and labour relations issues, collective agreement interpretation, grievance management, and negotiations with associations.
• Directs grievance handling, arbitration and problem-solving administration consistent with institutional interests and as provided for in the respective collective agreements in collaboration with People and Culture colleagues.
• Retains and instructs outside counsel in grievances and arbitrations, in consultation with the Office of General Counsel.
• Leads and provides advice on complex discipline, human rights and duty to accommodate cases.
• Working with the Associate Vice-President, People and Culture the Director, Faculty Relations and Employment Counsel acts as one of the university’s principle representatives to the Public Sector Employers’ Council of BC (PSEC) and maintains relationships with other external bodies such as Faculty Bargaining Services (FBS) and the Research Universities Council of BC (RUC-BC)
• Expand dispute resolution beyond grievance/arbitration to other creative and effective processes as appropriate (mediations, fact-finding etc.)
• Formulates, recommends, and implements human resource policies related to Faculty and Labour Relations.
• Creates a culture of continuous improvement within a work environment that upholds TRU’s Commitments to equity, diversity, inclusion, indigenization, decolonization, truth and reconciliation and anti-racism initiatives.
• Represents TRU on committees as designated.

REPORTS TO
Provost and Vice-President Academic
Associate Vice-President, People and Culture

QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS

• Relevant University education (a professional degree in Law; LLB or JD)
• A member in good standing with the Law Society of BC.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in labour and employment law.
• Directly related experience in a senior labour relations role.
• Post-secondary experience and a good understanding of the academic community is preferred.
• Personal credibility – is trusted and respected by others, protects confidential information, and is accountable for their actions and decisions. Acts as a role model for others when solving problems and dilemmas.
• Interpersonal sensitivity - demonstrated ability to understand and appropriately respond to the concerns of others, practicing active listening when interacting with individuals or groups and the ability to reflect on verbal and non-verbal behaviour and communicate effectively.
• Ability to work effectively in a collegial environment and have a broad perspective that fosters the development of options and solutions in an organizational context of collective agreements.
• Ability to adapt readily to rapidly changing environments.
• Solution-focused, collaborative, innovative, creative, focused on new ways of doing things rather than relying on the ways of the past.
• Critical thinking, keeping the long-term vision clearly in view, and who is able to influence in a distributed decision-making environment. Be a positive, constructive and progressive thinker.
• Holding self & others accountable - demonstrated success by establishing appropriate levels of responsibility, holding others accountable and implementing appropriate recognition or consequences.
• Organizational awareness with a clear sense of organizational impact.
• Demonstrated ability to foster learning and development of others through coaching and mentoring to stretch and challenge others to develop and achieve new skills/competencies.
• Demonstrated awareness of issues, processes and outcomes as they impact the university’s and stakeholder's strategic directions.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and coordinate work, understand and effectively manage resources, prioritize steps to be taken, anticipate potential barriers and develop contingency to address to execute and achieve objectives.