Resolution 11-01 Concerning the Promotion of Fair and Equitable Human Resources Policies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
WHEREAS, the Mission of the Employee Forum is to constructively address the concerns of the Employees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including the presentation of staff concerns to University officials, University General Administration and the citizenry of North Carolina, and;
WHEREAS, the Employee Forum welcomes and appreciates the opportunity to represent staff perspectives on campus policies, including new policies and revisions to existing policies, and;
WHEREAS, in the Summer of 2010, the Staff Relations, Policy and Practices (SRPP) committee became aware of the ad hoc creation, amendment and/or interpretation of policies to the detriment of staff employees particularly those in the department of the Facilities Services, and;
WHEREAS, those policies treated work performance issues as if they were misconduct issues and threatened to or did in fact affect employee pay and benefits by suspending the some employees without pay for one week, and;
WHEREAS, the frequency with which this penalty has been enacted or proposed in recent months for a range of employee behaviors suggests that it is viewed with favor by management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and;
WHEREAS, this penalty is being invoked in situations which are seriously out of proportion to the severity of the behavior(s) in question, and;
WHEREAS, in most cases employee misconduct should warrant verbal counseling followed by a written warning; and
WHEREAS, it is imperative that all policies be administered fairly and equitably across campus, according to the intent of the policy;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Employee Forum strongly supports the creation of policies in departments and operational units on campus to define appropriate workplace conduct for those units, so long as those policies do not contravene the letter or the spirit of existing State and University policies, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Forum strongly opposes departments and units imposing severe penalties for minor employee misconduct; such as described earlier in this document, that would negatively impact an employee’s wages, leave or other employment benefits, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Employee Forum endorses the idea that fair and equitable University Human Resource practices are followed when departments or divisions create new (or revise existing) workplace conduct policies involving reprimands which include negative effects on wages and benefits. All such policies, new or revised must be approved by the Office of Human Resources, receive final approval from the Chancellor and then be announced and provided in writing to all affected employees thirty days prior to implementation.
Signed on behalf of the Delegates of the Employee Forum,
Jacqueline E. Overton,
Chair