33-103.014. Reasons for Return of Grievance or Appeal Without Processing

(1) The informal grievance, formal grievance, direct grievance, or grievance appeal, hereafter referred to as “grievance,” may be returned to the inmate without further processing if, following a review of the grievance, one or more of the following conditions are found to exist. The reasons listed below are the only reasons for returning a grievance without a response on the merits.

(a) The grievance addresses more than one issue or complaint.

(b) The grievance is so broad, general or vague in nature that it cannot be clearly investigated, evaluated, and responded to.

(c) The grievance is not written legibly and cannot be clearly understood.

(d) The formal grievance was not received within 15 calendar days of the date of the response to the informal grievance.

(e) The formal grievance was not received within 15 calendar days of the date on which the incident or action being complained about occurred, if an informal grievance was not filed pursuant to subsection 33-103.006(3), F.A.C.

(f) The inmate did not provide a valid reason for by-passing the previous levels of review as required or the reason provided is not acceptable. This evaluation is made on a case by case basis and the reasons for rejecting the complaint will vary with the facts alleged in the complaint.

(g) The grievance did not have the attachments required: informal grievance and response, except as allowed for in paragraphs 33-103.006(3)(a) through (h), F.A.C., or the formal grievance and response, except as provided for in subsection 33-103.007(6), F.A.C.;

(h) The direct grievance to the Office of the Secretary was not received within 15 calendar days of the date that the incident or action being grieved occurred; or

(i) The grievance appeal was not received within 15 calendar days from the date of the response to the formal grievance.

(j) The inmate has not filed his grievance at the location he is presently assigned to as required in subsection 33-103.015(4), F.A.C.

(k) The inmate has written his or her complaint outside of the boundaries of the space provided on the grievance form or request form.

(l) The inmate has used multiple copies of grievance forms rather than attachments as continuation sheets.

(m) A decision has already been rendered to an inmate by a particular office on the issue currently being grieved before it.

(n) The inmate is grieving a matter beyond the control of the Department as described in subsection 33-103.001(5), F.A.C.

(o) The inmate is raising allegations and charges in a grievance appeal that have not been raised below at the previous level. (Since this is an appellate review process and not a fact-finding process, it is not appropriate to raise new allegations, charges, and facts that the previous decision maker has not had an opportunity to investigate and respond to.)

(p) The inmate has filed more than one appeal of a grievance. This would not include the situation where an inmate wishes to appeal the denial of his grievance as well as allege non-compliance with the grievance process. Since these are two separate issues, they would have to be raised in separate grievances.

(q) The inmate has filed a supplement to a grievance or appeal that has already been accepted. An exception will be made when the supplement contains relevant and determinative information that was not accessible to or known by the inmate at the time the original grievance or appeal was filed.

(r) Complaints are raised by an inmate regarding incidents that do not affect the inmate personally.

(s) The inmate filed a grievance at the institutional level that should have been filed directly with the Office of the Secretary.

(t) The inmate used more than two (2) additional narrative pages.

(u) The inmate filed an informal grievance in excess to 20 days from the time the event being grieved occurred.

(v) The inmate is using the grievance process to ask questions or seek information, guidance or assistance.

(w) The inmate is filing an informal grievance about being physically restrained pursuant to rule 33-602.211, F.A.C., either beyond the initial required timeframe without first requesting and obtaining an extension, or has filed beyond an approved 45 day extension.

(x) The inmate fails to use his committed name pursuant to rules 33-603.101 and 33-103.006, F.A.C., when completing a grievance.

(y) The inmate submitted the grievance by placing it somewhere other than inside the grievance box.

(2) An inmate who has a grievance returned to him for reasons stated in subsection (1), above [excluding paragraphs (1)(d), (e), (h), (i), (m), (n), (p), (q), (r), (u), (v) or (w)] may refile utilizing the proper procedure or correct the stated deficiency and refile, but only if:

(a) The refiled grievance is refiled within the applicable time frame, or

(b) The inmate was granted permission to refile outside of the applicable time frame, and refiles within the extended time frame granted to the inmate as set forth in subsection 33-103.011(2), F.A.C. When a grievance is returned to an inmate for being improperly filed, the inmate shall be told why the grievance was returned and told that in order to receive administrative review of his complaint he must correct the defects and re-submit the grievance within the time frames set forth in rule 33-103.011, F.A.C., unless instructed otherwise in the grievance response. Instructions to resubmit are not necessary if a grievance is returned for reasons stated in paragraphs (1)(d), (e), (h), (i), (m), (n), (p), (q), (r), (u), (v) or (w).

Rulemaking Authority 944.09 FS. Law Implemented 944.09 FS. History–New 10-12-89, Amended 1-15-92, 12-22-92, 4-10-95, 12-7-97, 5-10-98, Formerly 33-29.014, Amended 6-29-03, 2-9-05, 6-13-12, 11-7-12, 11-24-13, 11-7-18.