Recommended 2000

FMLA

SAC's recommendation to the Administration:
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Administration's changes to the FMLA policy (approved by SAC 01-10-01)
Revised FMLA Policy

Ombudsman

Ombudsman - SAC's Response to Administration's Reply
 

• Carolyn Hernandez has now been appointed as Staff Ombudsman with approval from the Board of Regents

Recommended 11-99. In response to the Administration proposal on background checks:

"Staff Advisory Council supports the September 14th Faculty Council resolution recommending the administration abandon its plan for blanket criminal background checks on all potential university employees. We believe that the policy was poorly conceived and devised, without appropriate counsel or publicity.

SAC acknowledges the importance of providing a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, and staff, and therefore agrees that criminal background checks may be prudent for certain positions.

SAC recommends that the administration put forth a new proposal that specifically lists those positions that will be subject to criminal background checks. The new policy should also ensure that applicants for these positions will be informed in advance that a criminal background check will be performed.

Because Oklahoma State University is not in the business of offering credit to perspective employees, SAC believes that a credit check is an inappropriate invasion of privacy and useless as a means of determining an applicant's character or trustworthiness."

A motion was made and seconded to forward the recommendation. Discussion followed. The motion passed.

Recommended 1-98.Changes in the wording of OSU Policy 3-0741 regarding staff evaluations.

The Staff Advisory Council recommends that the OSU Administration make the signature of the employee, as well as the supervisor, mandatory on the original copy of the evaluation form. It is recommended that Performance Evaluation Program for Staff, Policy #3-0741, section 3.03 be amended to read, "Each staff member . . .portion of the rating period, the signatures of the supervisor and the staff member are required on the written evaluation. Further amendment to Policy #3-0741, section 3.07 should read, "The original written results of an evaluation will be signed by both the supervisor and staff member and retained in the department. The staff member . . .request."

The motion was forwarded to the Administration 1/98.

Recommended 1-98.Evaluation of Supervisors

The Staff Advisory Council recommends to the OSU Administration that all staff be given an opportunity to anonymously and confidentially evaluate their supervisors at all levels on an annual basis.

Recommended 1-97. Discriminatory treatment of Oklahoma State University A/P employees under age 26 regarding OTRS

Whereas:

• The current OTRS policy enforced at Oklahoma State University mandates that all A/P employees enroll in OTRS.

• This policy also requires A/P employees under age 26 to personally contribute to OTRS with no monies matched to be provided by Oklahoma State University.

• This policy does not discriminate against any other group such as sex, race, or religion, but does against age.

• For FY96 there are only 31 university employees affected by this policy. Based on an annual average salary of $24,000, annual contributions from OSU to OTRS for this group would only total $44,640. Younger employees would see an increase in their annual gross salary of $1440 if the university were to pick up this expense.

• Polled public and private institutions and companies do not discriminate against this group in their retirement policies.

• Some departments across campus have independently chosen to pay retirement for this age group in their retirement policies.

• Some departments across campus have independently chosen to pay retirement for this age group which results in increased discrimination.

• The current national trend as well as future forecasts indicate that there will be a decrease in the workforce in the number of employees from this age group, decreasing any burden to OSU.

• The university hiring policy encourages the selection of the best candidate from an applicant pool to fill a position vacancy and is not to be subject to discrimination based on age, sex, race, or religion. Therefore, this same employee should not be subject to discriminatory regulations regarding retirement.

• The only argument for this discrimination is based on this group's high turnover rate, which can be directly attributed to better employment opportunities and compensation packages found at other institutions and companies.

Therefore:

• An elimination of this policy would improve the university's leverage in hiring from this applicant pool, increasing overall competitive advantage and recruitment as the new millennium approaches.

• An elimination of this policy would result in an inevitable savings to the university by reducing turnover in this group and reducing costs associated with the hiring process.

• It is recommended that Oklahoma State University abolish the current policy stating that A/P employees under age 26 personally contribute fully to their retirement and that Oklahoma State University treat all employees equally in this regard and do not discriminate against any group due to age.

• In accordance, the monies for these funds should be included in the 97-98 budgets with exception of the policy change on 7/1/97.

Administration's Response

The administration requests Staff Advisory Council to re-evaluate their request for funding of Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement contributions for administrative and professional employees under age 26. Tell the administration how this recommendation ranks with other priorities. The possibilities for new appropriations for fiscal year 1999 appear limited at this time. Any recommendation for new expenditures must recognize that such expenditures will decrease funding, if any, available for a raise program, new positions, and instructional materials.