January 1998
Staff Advisory Council Minutes
Thursday, January 8, 1998
LaFortune Student Center - Notre Dame Room
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Present: Rhonda Barkley, Jan Blazi, Larry Born, Rachel Boyd, Dan Brazo, Phyllis Campbell, Tammy Chapman, Gina DeLaruelle, Debbie Fox, Toby Green, Rita Grontkowski, Mary Anne Hoebeke, Pam Jobin, Chuck Klein, Norma Mezykowski, Jennifer Schafer, Doris Smuda, Fred Sonneborn, and Scott Uekert.
Absent: Sue Baum-Lentine, Debra Bennett, Victoria Cotton, Carl Hubbard, JoAnn Longenecker, Don Newsom, Sue Penrod, Michael Purnell, Diane Schlatterbeck, Amy Tremel and Deanna Zukowski.
HR Liaisons: Rich Nugent, Rita Winsor, and Pam Zarazee.
Dan Brazo, Chair wished everyone a Happy New Year and called the meeting to order at 1:12 p.m.
I. Approval of Minutes
December 11, 1997 meeting Deb Fox made a motion to accept the December 11, 1997 meeting minutes. Jan Blazi seconded the motion. A vote was taken and all Council members present were in favor of the motion.
II.Proposal from the Women's Committee
Terms of members Rita Grontkowski made the following motion to the Council on behalf of the Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Issues:
1. Staff Advisory Council members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Issues who are not reelected or do not run for reelection in January 1998 will remain on the Ad Hoc Committee in an advisory capacity until the end of January 1999.
2. Members of the Staff Advisory Council will be chosen for the Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Issues for the term beginning in February 1998 to replace Staff Advisory Council members of the Ad Hoc Committee who are not reelected or do not run for reelection in January 1998.
Mary Anne Hoebeke seconded the motion. A vote was taken and all members present were in favor of the motion.
III. Elections Committee Update and Time Line Deb Fox distributed a tentative time line for the elections of even numbered districts. The Council discussed this time line and decided the following:
* January 12, 1998 - Letter & self-nomination forms sent out
* January 16, 1998 - Closing date for self-nomination forms to be returned
* January 21, 1998 - Candidate information & election ballots to be sent out
* February 3, 1998 - Closing date for all ballots - 5 p.m.
* February 19, 1998 - Welcome and announce new members to the Council at the February 19, 1998 Staff Advisory Council meeting.
Rachel Boyd and Toby Green volunteered to assist the Elections Committee if extra help would be needed.
Districts without any self-nominations will have five additional days to get a nomination. If no one self-nominates within the extra five days, the district will not have anyone seated on the Council.
Gina DeLaruelle made a motion that the Secretary for the Council will be responsible for writing a thank-you letter to those members who are not reelected or chose not to serve on the Council for another term. Chuck Klein seconded the motion. A vote was taken and all members present were in favor of the motion.
Toby Green made a motion that the thank-you letter be a well done form letter rather than a written note card. Rachel Boyd seconded the motion. A vote was taken and 13 Council members were in favor of the motion and 6 Council members were opposed.
IV. Sick Leave Issue - Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability Rita Winsor explained to the Council the differences between Short-Term and Long-Term Disability. Short-Term Disability can also be called income insurance or accident and sick insurance. Conceptually, short-term disability programs can be extended for a period of 3 to 6 months where an employee is unable to work due to illness. Long-term disability typically begins on the sixth month of illness. At Notre Dame, non-exempt employees do not have a short-term disability plan, but do have their accumulated sick time available for use. Non- exempt employees can accrue up to 720 hours of sick time.
Rita Winsor made a comparison of someone who works full-time and earns $10.00 per hour. If this employee has all 720 hours available in their sick bank they would be paid $7,200 for a short-term period. If this same employee utilized some type of short-term disability plan they would earn approximately 60 percent of their earnings, which in this example, would be around $6,240.
The University does have rules in place to take a leave of absence without pay. An example of this would be the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA.)
University policies set out the reasons for leaves and make decisions very clear on leaves due to medical reasons. If there are medical terms that are unclear the University's plan administrator seeks medical expertise on the issue in doubt.
Non-exempt employees are eligible for a Disability retirement if they have 10 years of full-time service. This Disability retirement is part of the Staff Pension Plan. An employee must apply for a disability retirement.
The Council thanked Rita for discussing and educating them on the University's disability plans and suggested that Human Resources do more educating and training on this topic.
The Council requested that Rich Nugent ask Risk Management and Safety to come to the February 19, 1998 Council meeting to discuss the University's Worker's Compensation Program.
V. Set the Agenda for the February 19, 1998 meeting
I. Approval of the January 8, 1998 minutes II. Risk Management and Safety presentation on Worker's Compensation III. Elections of: *Executive Committee for the Council *Vacancies of Ad-Hoc Committees *Women's Committee Council Members IV. Review and Approve the Council's Annual Report V. Set the Agenda for the March 12, 1998 meeting
Larry Born made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:03 p.m. Pam Jobin seconded the motion. A vote was taken and all members present were in favor of this motion.
Respectfully Submitted,
Communications Committee