[Hiring] Employee Relations Specialist @Vireo Health

Role Description

The Employee Relations Specialist is the first point of contact for managers and employees on workplace concerns. In a unionized environment, you will:

• Investigate complaints
• Manage grievances
• Interpret collective bargaining agreements (CBAs)
• Coach managers on contract-compliant discipline
• Keep the company compliant with employment and labor law
• Balance employee advocacy with organizational risk
• Maintain constructive relationships with union representatives

What impact you’ll make:

• Intake, triage, and manage employee concerns, including harassment, discrimination, retaliation, policy violations, and interpersonal conflict
• Conduct fair, timely, well-documented investigations by interviewing complainants, respondents, and witnesses, gathering evidence, and writing clear findings reports
• Ensure investigations honor employee representation rights, including Weingarten rights, and CBA procedural requirements
• Manage grievances and recommend outcomes and corrective actions consistent with policy, precedent, and the CBA, while maintaining confidential case files and tracking trends by department, manager, and issue type
• Advise managers on progressive discipline, performance improvement plans, attendance, and terminations, and review proposed actions for just cause, consistency, contract compliance, and legal risk before they are delivered
• Train supervisors on contract administration, avoiding unfair labor practices, and working with union representatives
• Partner with HR Business Partners and Legal on high-risk or complex situations, and support responses to agency charges (EEOC, NLRB, state agencies) and unemployment claims, including documentation and position statements
• Help ensure compliance with the NLRA, FMLA, ADA, Title VII, FLSA, and applicable state and local laws, and draft and update handbook policies and manager guidance, coordinating with the union on changes that require bargaining
• Deliver training on respectful workplace, anti-harassment, and conflict resolution, and report quarterly on case volume, grievance trends, time to resolution, turnover drivers, and recommendations

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Labor Relations, Business, Psychology, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• 3+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 2 years handling employee relations cases or workplace investigations
• 2+ years of hands-on union experience, including administering a CBA, handling grievances, and working directly with union representatives
• Working knowledge of the NLRA, unfair labor practices, just cause, and grievance and arbitration procedures
• Working knowledge of federal and state employment law
• Strong interviewing, writing, and analytical skills, with the ability to produce defensible investigation reports and grievance responses
• Sound judgment and discretion with sensitive, confidential information
• Proficiency with a case management system (HR Acuity) and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance on the first of the month after you begin employment
• Competitive additional benefits including HSA, FSA, Dependable Care, EAP services, etc.
• 15 Days of accrued PTO in addition to 2 Wellness Days & Volunteer Hours that will increase with tenure
• 401k program with an employer match after six months of employment