Official 2016 AMHA Rule Book | Page 46

150A Policy for complaint filed with the AMHA office against an AMHA member The following steps will be followed to maintain the protection of all parties concerned and applies to all AMHA members. A flow chart will be used in conjunction with the following guide lines. RULES & REGULATIONS 1. When a formal complaint is received at the AMHA office, the complaint must be in in the form of a letter that is dated, signed and a $100.00 filing fee attached by the individual filing the complaint.If a telephone, email or faxed complaint is received, the office manager will notify the individual that a dated letter with the original signature of the member filing the complaint must be mailed to the AMHA office with a $100.00 fee for any action to proceed. Electronic signatures will not be accepted. 2. The office manager will forward the complaint to the President. If the complaint is against the President, it will be forwarded to the Vice President. The complaint will be handled as sensitive information and will only be discussed with the Executive Committee (EC) during closed meeting,excluding any EC member that the complaint may be against. 3. The President or Vice President will review the complaint with the EC as outlined in #2. If the complaint is found to be a matter that AMHA has no control over or is outside the jurisdiction of the AMHA it will be sent back to the person filing the complaint with an explanation within thirty (30) days and the $100.00 fee will be returned. 4. During the review, the EC will appoint an EC member to represent the person filing the complaint and another EC member to represent the individual who the complaint was filed against. In the event that there is a conflict of interest with an EC member fulfilling these duties, a member of the Board of Directors (BOD) will be appointed. 5. Each appointed EC/BOD member will conduct an investigation to include an interview only with their appointed party.They will take statements concerning the complaint and will report back to the EC with their findings. If one or both parties want to present their side of the complaint to the EC, another meeting will be scheduled. The President or Vice President will determine if both parties may be on the same call. 6.  Once the investigation starts and while it is ongoing, the Complainant and the party which the complaint is filed against will be notified to not have any communication with each other until the EC completes its investigative processes. 7. During the final meeting, every attempt will be made to protect individual rights and satisfactorily resolve the complaint between the parties involved. Every attempt will be made to keep this complaint from going forward to a Hearing Board however, all 44