Appeals Policy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure all candidates, as well as other program users (such as restaurants, health departments/agencies and the general public) have ready access to a fair, and inexpensive appeals process.

Scope

The appeals policy applies to all cases of appeals, as defined, and is available to all candidates utilizing services under EduClasses® taking the Food Managers Certification (FMC) exam.

The appeals process follows three steps, depending on the nature of the appeal. The steps are listed below:

1. An informal process between the persons involved.
2. An informal process between the appellant and Program Director
3. An internal formal process for matters that have not been able to be resolved informally.

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the following definition have been provided:

• Appeal, n—request for reconsideration of adverse decision.
  • Examples: disagreement with examination results, certificate revoked due to cheating, banned from future testing due to cheating, legal action due to secure content being published online, disagree with decision from a formal complaint.
• Appellant, n—the person lodging the appeal.

Policy

1. Formal appeals must be emailed to info@FoodManagersCertification.com. The formal appeal will then be forwarded to the person holding authority over the FMC program. Formal appeals must be submitted in writing and contain the reason for the appeal, steps of escalation, projected outcome, and means of restitution.
2. The process for resolving the formal written appeal will commence within ten working days.
3. Resolving the matter will be considered a priority by EduClasses® and every reasonable resource will be made to resolve the formal appeal as soon as possible.
4. All appeals will be approached with a fair and transparent manner with the appellant being provided information about their formal appeal with corresponding resolution as deemed necessary.
5. The internal formal process will be at no cost to the appellant.
6. EduClasses® will ensure the matter will be handled in strict confidentiality.
7. A written statement of outcome will be mailed and/or emailed to the appellant including the reasons for the decision.
8. The appellant's current state will be upheld during the formal process of the appeal.

Investigation

All appeals are required to include investigation into the issue being brought forth. The investigation process includes interviews with the person requesting an appeal in an effort to discover facts pertaining to the appeal.

Investigation may also involve reviewing data collected from the accounts of the persons involved such as the examinee payment, examinee scheduling, exam score, location of assessment, and persons involved at the testing location.

The investigation process shall be conducted by the Company CEO, Program Director or other entities as needed to resolve the issue.

Final outcome of the investigation is determined by the program Advisory Board.

Communication

Communications with the person requesting an appeal will be on going until the conclusion of the appeal. Communication may be made via phone call, email, mail, Zoom or other methods of communication.

Updated: 5/10/2024