NJYS's Policy on Monitoring and Enforcement is set forth to establish procedures for monitoring and enforcing the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program, as well as to establish an appropriate grievance process to address allegations of misconduct following the report or complaint of misconduct.
NJYS takes all reports of potential violations of this Athlete and Participant Safety Program seriously, and is committed to confidentiality and investigation of allegations. The NJYS Risk Management (RM) Committee and/or NJYS Legal Counsel may conduct or manage investigations.
In order to monitor and enforce the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program, NJYS reserves the right to, either directly or through a contracted third-party service provider, survey, audit, require certifications of compliance with, or otherwise review compliance with this policy by direct member organizations and/or those organizations that are indirectly affiliated with NJYS via membership or participation with any NJYS direct member organization. Any NJYS direct member organizations, and/or those organizations that are indirectly affiliated with NJYS via membership or participation with any NJYS direct member organization, that fail to maintain compliance with this policy will be subject to review by the NJYS Board of Directors. This failure to maintain compliance with this policy may constitute a violation of the NJYS Bylaws Article III Section 5.
The grievance process for potential policy violations will be materially free of bias and conflicts of interest. Additionally, the grievance process will include the opportunity for review by disinterested and unbiased fact finders, and a right to appeal pursuant to NJYS and/or U.S. Soccer Bylaws, Rules, and Policies.
Should the NJYS RM committee and/or NJYS Legal Counsel deem that an alleged violation of any provision of the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program is supported, the Covered Adult who is alleged to have violated the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program will receive written notification in the form of an adverse action letter. An adverse action letter may include a temporary or permanent disqualification, a suspension, a removal from future assignments, or other remedial action (e.g. probation) that impacts participation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, NJYS reserves the right to require additional training (e.g., SafeSport-certified training) on the part of any participant at any time.
The Covered Adult has the right to an appeal hearing before the NJYS Board of Directors. The adverse action letter from the NJYS RM Committee will include instructions on how to appeal the decision made by the NJYS RM Committee. The Covered Adult has ten (10) calendar days from the receipt of the adverse action letter to submit an appeal in writing to the NJYS State Office.
Once the adverse action letter from the RM Committee is received by the Covered Adult, that individual must submit a written notice of appeal to the NJYS Board of Directors addressed to the NJYS State Office. The written notice of appeal must be received by the NJYS State Office within ten (10) calendar days from the receipt of the adverse action letter. The individual forfeits all rights to appeal if a written request of appeal is not received by the NJYS State Office within the allotted time period.
The appeal hearing date will be established at the discretion of NJYS Board of Directors. No members of the NJYS Board of Directors, except the NJYS President, who serves as an ex-officio member, will serve on the NJYS Risk Management Committee. The Covered Adult may send materials to the NJYS State Office to be reviewed by the NJYS Board of Directors before his or her hearing date. All materials must be received 5 (five) business days before his or her hearing date. All NJYS Board of Directors present at the meeting may vote. A vote will be taken by the NJYS Board of Directors in a private session and the decision will be relayed in written form to the individual no later than 10 business days from the date of the meeting.
The NJYS Board of Directors shall have the authority to determine if the individual should be permitted to participate further in NJYS sanctioned activities and competitions, despite the individual's receipt of an adverse action letter. The NJYS Board of Directors determines the terms of reinstatements and disqualifications, where applicable.
As stated in the Background Screening Policy of the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program, U.S. Soccer Policy 601-10 does not provide for the appeal of risk management policy disqualifications to the USSF Appeals Committee, for those disqualifications pertaining to the Background Screening Policy.
The decision of the NJYS Board of Directors shall be final and binding on all parties. Pursuant to U.S. Soccer Bylaw 704, the individual has the right to appeal a final decision rendered by NJYS's process for violations of the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Policy, excluding those decisions rendered pertaining to the Background Screening Policy of the NJYS Athlete and Participant Safety Program.