Dispute
Resolution, catastrophic leave policies revised
By Susan
Carkeek, Associate Vice President
Director, Human Resources
UNM President
F. Chris Garcia recently approved revisions to the Dispute Resolution
and Catastrophic Leave policies. The revised policies and a
summary of changes can be found at http://www.unm.edu/~ubppm.
The Dispute
Resolution policy, developed in November 1994, needed to be
updated to reflect process changes that have evolved and to
address concerns raised by employees. The proposed changes were
sent to the campus for a thirty-day review period. The UNM Policy
Office worked with the Staff Council Employee Rights and Policy
Review Committee, Human Resources, and Dispute Resolution Department
to address concerns raised during the review period.
The revised
policy is endorsed by the Staff Council Committee and effective
April 1, 2003.
The Catastrophic
Leave Program was adopted Nov. 1, 1993. The success of the program
resulted in some unanticipated impacts on ill or injured employees
and their departments pertaining to funding, shortfall of donations
and perceptions of improper use.
Proposed
changes were sent to the campus for a 30 day review period and
changes made to address many concerns. During the comment period
a number of individuals asked that they be allowed to donate
sick leave instead of annual leave. Universities are required
to fund an annual leave liability account, but not a sick leave
liability account. For this reason a donation of sick leave
would not generate the funds necessary to pay the salary of
an employee on catastrophic leave. The catastrophic leave account
will be funded from this annual leave liability account and
used to pay the salary of an employee on catastrophic leave.
Under the
revised policy, staff will be asked to make donations only once
a year. Previously staff have been asked for donations many
times throughout the year, each time a co-worker requested catastrophic
leave. With the new procedure, regular full-time staff will
be asked to contribute eight hours of annual leave, or the equivalent
number for part-time staff employees, each June 30. Staff employees
who do not wish to have the automatic deduction may choose not
to participate in the catastrophic leave program.
The revised
policy is endorsed by the Staff Council Employee Rights and
Policy Review Committee. The effective date for use of catastrophic
leave under the revised policy is July 1, 2003, however, the
policy has been issued early to enable the automatic donation
process to begin. Human Resources will be notifying employees
shortly of the new donation procedures.