DEVELOPING: Northern Cheyenne Employees, Check Your Grievance Deadline Now — Published Policy Says Seven Working Days

DEVELOPING | EMPLOYEE-RIGHTS NOTICE | November 1, 2026

LAME DEER, Mont. — Northern Cheyenne employees who recently received written layoff, dismissal, suspension, or other adverse employment notices should check their appeal and grievance deadlines immediately. Some workers may be approaching a short filing deadline this week. Waiting for the government leadership dispute to settle could put a grievance at risk.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s publicly posted Personnel Manual says qualifying employees generally have seven working days—not a blanket 10 calendar days—to submit a written grievance to a Tribal Appeals Board member after the adverse action was communicated in writing. That rule appears in Section 13, pages 49–50. The actual deadline depends on the employee’s employer, applicable policies, notice date, and circumstances.

What the published policy says

Section 13 allows employees who have completed their initial probationary period to challenge certain actions, including involuntary termination and layoffs. It excludes employees still in their initial probationary period from that grievance procedure. Before filing, the grievant must make a good-faith effort to resolve the action by contacting the people responsible and asking for reversal. The formal written grievance must describe why the employee challenges the action, certify that attempt to resolve it, and state the remedy requested.

Under the posted procedure, the written grievance must be presented to one of the Tribal Appeals Board members within seven working days of the date the action was communicated in writing. Employees should not assume that sending a message to Human Resources alone satisfies the manual’s filing requirement.

Important exception: Different tribal employers can have different rules. For example, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority’s separately published personnel policy provides a 10-calendar-day appeal period for certain permanent full-time employees challenging suspension or termination, directed through that authority’s own procedures. The main Tribal Personnel Manual expressly excludes tribal enterprises and chartered entities. Do not assume one deadline applies to every job.

What affected employees can do now

Locate your actual written notice. Record its date, when you received or were given it, the position involved, and whether the action is described as a layoff, suspension, termination, or reassignment. Keep the original letter and mailing envelope.
Ask which current personnel policy governs your position. Contact the relevant program and Human Resources promptly. Request a copy of any current amendments and the official grievance instructions.
If you intend to challenge the decision, act promptly. The Tribal Personnel Manual calls for a good-faith request to reverse the action and a written grievance presented to a Tribal Appeals Board member. Keep copies and proof of every submission or attempted submission. Seek prompt qualified legal assistance when possible.
Ask who can receive an appeal if the board is changing. Do not presume a board vacancy suspends a filing deadline. If no member or filing office can be reached, document the attempts and seek guidance immediately; an alternate submission route has not been verified by Truth in Focus.

The Tribe’s official contact directory lists Human Resources at (406) 477-4825 and the tribal main number at (406) 477-6284. The tribal employment page also lists the Human Resources Director’s office at (406) 477-4826. These numbers are places to seek information; Truth in Focus has not confirmed that calling, emailing, or filing with either office substitutes for presenting the grievance to the appropriate board member.

Why the question is urgent

Recent community discussions have raised concerns about layoffs, mailed employee notices, retained security positions, and possible replacement hiring amid Northern Cheyenne government turmoil. The number of affected employees and the reasons for individual decisions have not been independently established. Allegations that political retaliation motivated any specific dismissal remain unproven.

An October 19 memorandum reported by Truth in Focus described changes to several tribal boards, including the Appeals Board, and October 20 vacancy notices sought applicants. That leaves a practical question requiring an immediate official answer: Who is receiving timely employment grievances while board membership is changing? The public deserves clear instructions before any deadline expires.

Truth in Focus is seeking clarification from tribal Human Resources, the Tribal Council, the interim administration, and the appropriate appeals officials about the current policy, board membership, accepted filing methods, and any emergency or interim instructions. Changes to board membership do not themselves establish that workers have lost their grievance rights.

Bottom line: If you received a written employment notice last week, check your applicable deadline now. Do not rely on a general claim that everyone has 10 days. This report summarizes publicly available policies; it is not individualized legal advice, and we have not verified whether either posted policy has been amended since publication.

Read the primary sources

Corrections or firsthand records: If you have a notice or an official update to the grievance process, contact Truth in Focus. Please redact confidential employee identifiers before sending documents for newsroom review.

By Steven Bullcoming Haworth | Truth in Focus. Collaborator: Corry Bullcoming Haworth.em>