SECTION 53. Grievances of employees; disposition; appeals

The personnel administrator shall make and from time to time may amend, subject to the approval of the commissioner of administration, rules and regulations providing informal procedure for the prompt disposition of any grievance of any employee of the commonwealth, or of any group of such employees employed by the same appointing authority, relating to classification, hours of employment, vacations, sick leave or other forms of leaves of absence, overtime, and other matters relating to conditions of employment. No such grievance shall be so disposed of if the disposition thereof is within the jurisdiction of the contributory retirement appeal board. Such rules and regulations shall provide the procedure to be followed by an employee or by a group of employees employed by the same appointing authority in bringing an alleged grievance before the appointing authority. An aggrieved party may appeal in writing from the finding of the appointing authority to the personnel administrator and shall be entitled to a hearing upon such appeal. If the appointing authority fails to make a finding within fifteen days of the hearing, the aggrieved party may appeal to said administrator in like manner. Said administrator shall grant a hearing to the aggrieved party within fifteen days of the receipt of such appeal, and shall make a decision thereon not later than fifteen days after the close of the hearing. If either the appellant or the appointing authority is aggrieved by a decision of the administrator, said appellant or appointing authority may appeal to the civil service commission established under section fifty-four, but said appeal shall be taken not later than ten days after the mailing of said decision to the appellant or the appointing authority. If the administrator fails to grant a hearing or having granted a hearing fails to make a decision within the above prescribed time, the aggrieved party may appeal to said commission, but said appeal shall, in the event no hearing was granted, be taken not later than twenty-five days after the date of his appeal to the administrator, and, in the event that no decision was made, not later than twenty-five days after the hearing was closed.

The decision of the administrator shall be final and shall be binding on all agents and agencies of the commonwealth, subject to the provisions contained in section fifty-seven, unless an appeal therefrom is made to the civil service commission as hereinbefore provided.

No appeal shall be allowed at any stage of the proceedings unless there is a compliance with the provisions of this section and with the rules and regulations established by the personnel administrator.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to any employee whose position is included in a collective bargaining unit represented by an employee organization with a collective bargaining agreement that has been reached in accordance with the provisions of section seven of chapter one hundred and fifty E and that includes any of the conditions of employment.