Appeals Form
Please provide the following information to allow Food Safety Educators to proceed with the appeal process:
- Date of Appeal
- Complainant's Name
- Complaint's Certificate Number
- Email associated with the eFoodcard account
- Description for appeal
This policy is aimed at Food Safety Educators certificate program users who have taken or are taking a Food Safety Educators certificate program. It sets out the process they should follow when submitting appeals to Food Safety Educators and the process which will be followed when responding to appeals. An appeal is a formal request for reconsideration of an adverse decision made by the COO, CFO and Food Safety Educators Certificate Program Advisory Panel or its representatives related to an individual's achievement of a certificate.
It is also for use by Food Safety Educators staff to ensure that all appeals are dealt with in a consistent manner.
Food Safety Educators responsibility
It is important that staff involved in the management, training or assessment and quality assurance of Food Safety Educators are aware of the contents of the policy.
In addition, Food Safety Educators must have internal appeal arrangements which certificate program users can access if they wish to appeal against a decision taken by a Food Safety Educators. If an individual wishes to appeal against a decision made by Food Safety Educators, the Food Safety Educators appeals process will be followed.
Review arrangements
Food Safety Educators will review the policy as part of our internal audit schedule and revise it as and when necessary in response to customer and learner feedback, requests from, or good practice guidance issued by, the accreditation authorities (to align with any appeals and complaints process established by accreditation authorities such as ANAB).
Areas covered by the policy
This policy covers:
- Appeals of decisions made from certificate program users relating to an assessment, training decision, complaint, invalidation or fee. That Food Safety Educators did not apply procedures consistently or that procedures were not followed properly and fairly.
- Appeals from certificate program users relating to a Food Safety Educators decision to decline a request to make reasonable adjustments or give special considerations.
Process For Appeals
Appeals Submission
An appeal must be made in writing to the Food Safety Educators Chief Operations Officer within 30 days of receiving the determination being appealed. The written appeal must be made on the appeals form. This form is available upon request.
Appeal Review and Determination
When an appeal is received, the Chief Operations Officer shall convene a three-person Appeals Panel to consider the appeal, ensuring that no members of the Panel have actual or apparent conflicts of interest with the case at hand. The function of the Appeals Panel in a given case is to review the decision being appealed based on the record that was presented at the time of the determination. The appeal shall be considered within 60 days. The Chief Operations Officer shall notify the appellant of appeal decisions within 14 days from the Appeals Panel determination. Appeals Panel decisions shall be final.
Appeals Determination Impacting Others
Should the Appeals Panel grant an appeal on an issue that impacts the eligibility status or examination scores of other certificate program participants or certificate holders, a review or rescoring of all those potentially impacted shall automatically be conducted. The Chief Operations Officer shall notify the individuals of the review or rescoring and final decision within 60 days of the decision.
Program Appeals Tracking
All appeals and dispositions shall be recorded in the Appeals Register, which shall be maintained by the Chief Operations Officer. The Appeals Register shall be reviewed periodically, and at a minimum as part of the program evaluation, to identify the need for corrective or preventive action.