Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §1025, sub-§2, ķE, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 166 and as amended by PL 2003, c. 20, Pt. OO, §2 and affected by §4, is further amended to read:

E. The bargaining agent certified by the executive director or a designee as the exclusive bargaining agent for a unit is required to represent all the university, academy or community college employees within the unit without regard to membership in the organization certified as bargaining agent, except that any university, academy or community college employee may present at any time and at any step of any prescribed grievance procedure then in effect, including arbitration, that employee's grievance to the employer and have that grievance adjusted without the intervention of the bargaining agent, if the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of any collective bargaining agreement then in effect and the bargaining agent's representative has been given reasonable opportunity to be present at any meeting of the parties called for the resolution of that grievance.

Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §§1025-A, 1025-B, 1025-C and 1025-D are enacted to read:

§1025-A.__Duties of employers and bargaining agents

1.__Employer's duty to recognize employee's exercise of rights; punitive damages.__An employer shall recognize and accept the exercise by an employee of rights under this chapter and shall recognize and accept the employee and the employee's attorney as the grievant and representative for purposes of a grievance proceeding. If an employer fails or refuses to accept and process a valid grievance that is pursued by an employee without representation by a bargaining agent in accordance with section 1025-B, the employer is liable to the employee for all damages sustained by the employee as a result of that failure and the employer may be subject to punitive damages in a civil suit brought by the employee in Superior Court.

2.__Duty to notify employee.__Upon the commencement of an employee's employment, the employer and the bargaining agent shall notify the employee of the rights granted to the employee under this section and sections 1025-B, 1025-C and 1025-D and, to the extent possible, these rights must be incorporated by reference in collective bargaining agreements negotiated and entered into between the bargaining agent and the employer.

3.__Bargaining agent's duty to represent employee; punitive damages.__If an employee requests that the bargaining agent