December 10, 2015
Staff Advisory Council Minutes
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Notre Dame Room, La fortune
Present:
Tami Springer, Jan Solkey, Amanda Huerta, Evelyn Mitchell, Valerie Schroeder, Char-anna Koblick, Shebra Guidry, Julie Logue, Tricia Dalenberg, Bobbi McMahon, Robyn Karkiewicz, Alissa Hochstetler, Nancy Cole, Michael Mueller, Lori Haselrick, and Susan Monroe.
Excused:
Julie DeSchaine, Kim Miller, Bobbi McMahon, and Joe Reimers.
Unexcused:
Dan Junkett.
Guests:
John Affleck-Graves, Executive Vice President
HR Liaison:
Sharon Hawkins
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 1:04 pm by Tami Springer.
November minutes were reviewed, Valerie Schroeder made a motion to approve with a second by Robyn Karkiewicz.
II. Committee Updates
Benefit Committee
Robyn Karkiewicz reported no meeting.
Parking Appeals
Tricia Dalenberg reported that Kyle Johnson is the new administrator for parking appeals. Tina Stump will be the new contact to set up the meeting for appeals. They have over 100 appeals and going forward should be meeting every two weeks to go over appeals.
Promotions Committee
Jan Solkey stated that the bins are in place and information is posted on Inside ND about the promotion. A check was received from staff in Tami’s district and a craft item from Valerie’s district at meeting. Council was informed about a call from Stacy Koebel in Development–Donor Services. Stacy stated that for any promotions/fundraisers Development should be contacted first for confirmation and correct verbiage about any tax receipt information. All known donations should be reported to Development–Donor Services, so they can send a thank you letter with information for tax purposes. If someone brings in a donation, they need to have a receipt and keep a copy of this receipt for themselves for tax purposes.
Website Committee
Amanda Huerta reported website updated.
ECDC
Michael Mueller reported no meetings.
Interim Parking
Joe Reimers absent from meeting.
Compassion Fund
Shebra Guildry had no requests.
III. Old Business
None
IV. New Business
John Affleck-Graves, Executive Vice President, responded to questions and concerns of SAC representatives and their districts. Concern was brought up about the elevators in Grace Hall. The Grace Hall elevators are becoming stuck in between floors with staff inside or not working at all with some staff climbing 11 floors to arrive at work. John stated that with all the construction currently on campus, they do not have the manpower to work on the elevators. They are currently working on Flanner Hall and when completed, will work on the Grace elevators. John will contact Doug Marsh about any assistance that he can give in this matter.
There was question about why the NDFS OAD is taking so long and if dining hall employment will be outsourced. John stated that Chris Abayasinghe has been working with the HR team. NDFS is one of the largest OAD’s and they wanted this completed the right way before sharing information with employees. John stated that the dining halls will NOT be outsourced at this time.
There was a concern brought up about parking issues when (basketball/or other sports) games coincide with staff trying to leave the parking lot at the end of day to go home and guests trying to park for events. The parking “ushers” will only allow one way out, causing long lines and wait times by staff trying to get out of the parking lot at 5:00 p.m. to go home.
A question was brought up about the discrepancy with FMLA between staff and faculty. Can staff FMLA be extended, as it is for faculty? Sharon stated that HR is looking into short term disability that may alleviate some of this. Further questions should be referred to Denise Murphy. FMLA is available after 1250 hours or 1 year of fulltime employment. Faculty may be excused from teaching for a semester and after 3 months of FMLA, they may still be doing research at home, as opposed to going back into the classroom that semester. It is then possible for faculty to still be working while out of the classroom and is not easily compared to a staff person that comes to work and doesn’t work at home.
There was a question about a pager being required to carry for a week at a time and not getting paid for time on call, preventing going out of town. They are expected to be on call and not stray too far from their work area, which causes missed family commitments.
There were questions about why they would receive an occurrence if the weather is so bad and they are not able to come in to work. They need to report to their shift by 4 am, which is before the time that a weather emergency is declared. John stated that if they can provide proof that a state of emergency was declared by their city, county, or state, then they should not incur a new occurrence.
There was a question about the shuttle bus on game days. Can the shuttle make more stops than White Field and Hesburgh Library? Can the shuttle run later than 2 -3 hours after the game to accommodate employees? Some staff are not done until 11 pm at night and have to walk all the way to White Field. John stated he will look into this.
There was a question about football tickets being paid in increments instead of a lump sum. The problem comes if a person leaves the university before tickets are paid for. They are working on possibly having chips in tickets which can be deactivated. There was a suggestion by Tami that payments could come out during the summer between the ticket application deadline on May 1 and when the tickets are actually mailed out in late August.
There were questions about flex time for departments. It depends on the operational needs of the department. Many departments do have flex time in place already.
There was a comment about the discrepancy of training those in a supervisory role. There was a question brought up about mentoring staff and utilizing staff more on campus. The exempt staff rotate around on campus. Why can’t non-exempt staff do this? A suggestion brought up by Susan Monroe about utilizing the Staff Advisory Council more on University committees. JAG agreed with this idea and said he will work on getting a list of committees that may benefit with SAC members.
V. Additional Business
Elections: District 6, 12, and 20 will be unpresented as no one has volunteered. Three are run-offs in Districts 4, 10, and 14. New representatives should be attending the meeting in January and new officers will be elected in January also.
There were questions about how to stay on as a SAC representative? When your district is up for reelection, you self-nominate. If more than one person self- nominates then an election will take place with people in that district voting for their choice.
Robyn had an update from Fighting Irish, Fighting Hunger. They raised over $38,000 dollars this year, an increase from last year.
VI.Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn at 2:30 pm. 1st Valerie Schroeder. 2nd Robyn Karkiewicz.