Yamhill County Association of Realtors®

Professional Standards, by Jean Elmore, Chair of the Professional Standards Committee

Rather than a case study this month, it’s time to revisit the procedures for filing a grievance. The first and foremost requirement of a grievance filing is CONFIDENTIALITY! The Grievance and Professional Standards committees are stand-alone entities. Even though the Association president appoints the chairpersons of the committees, the Board of Directors members have no advance knowledge of details of the grievance, or the parties involved as they may be called upon to ratify a decision of the Professional Standards Panel.

If you feel that a member of the Association has violated an article of the Code of Ethics (Grievance filing), or if you have a commission disbursement issue with a REALTOR® member agent (Request for Arbitration), here is how to get started:

Call or email Judi Hammer or Jean Elmore and say ONLY that you wish to request a Grievance or Arbitration Packet. Please do not vent or provide details. We will forward your message to our acting OAR appointed Professional Standards Administrator, Susan Schneider of PMAR. You may also contact Susan directly and she will send you the forms to fill out to start the process. She is the ONLY person who will  have names and details at this point. She will then let Judi know that the Grievance Committee may have to meet to determine if the grievance or arbitration request has sufficient merit to forward to the Professional Standards Committee. The paperwork you submit to the administrator, as well as  all communications, will have very specific instructions on how to proceed from this point.

CONFIDENTIALITY is the keystone of this entire process to assure that every case is considered fairly.

Judi Hammer
Phone: 503-435-8477
Email: judi@judihammer.com

Jean Elmore
Phone: 503-472-8411
Email: jean@jeanelmore.com