Employee Assembly Minutes
Wednesday, March 17, 1999
Day Hall Boardroom
12:15 p.m. — 1:30 p.m.
!!!I. Call to Order and Introductions

C.J.Lance-Duboscq called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m.

Present: C.J.Lance-Duboscq, M.Esposito, L.Clougherty, T.Calvert, J.DeMarco, D.Howland, D.DiBene, C.Woodward, D.Stein, J.Gordon, C.Gardner, C.Hayes, A.Vail.

Excused: T.Hoebbel, M.Overstrom, J.Worden

Absent: G. Brandt

II. Approval of Minutes

The Minutes of March 3, 1999, were approved as amended:

• A.Vail should be marked “Excused” for March 3.
• Under Section III the second comment by M.Esposito should read: “M.Esposito asked the group to be sure the issue was followed up on at the next TAC meeting.”

III. Open Forum

L.Clougherty relayed that at the GPADS reception, a discussion arose about how nice it would be to do an employee art exhibit. L.Clougherty called the Cornell Council of the Arts to inquire about and get help for setting up such a project. She thought it would be nice to do a showing during Employee Week in the fall; if other EA members are interested, she’ll pursue the project.

A.Vail suggested L.Clougherty reserve space now, since the WSH galleries rent their rooms during the previous semester.

L.Clougherty noted there would be a small expense for some artists who can’t afford to frame or present their work.

D.Stein reported the Spring Sports Family Day was scheduled for April 24th and would cost $5.00/ticket, which would include both the price of a meal and admittance to sporting events, as well as other activities such as museum tours and plantation tours. In the past, volunteers at the event have been given free meal tickets, but he was hoping this year employees could also have free admission for the event. The planning group has some funding, but they hoped the EA could cover the gap in ticket prices - roughly $200.

T.Calvert asked if this meant meal tickets were no longer being offered separately?

D.Stein responded yes, that was true, and explained the objective of the event was for Athletics to encourage employees to enjoy Cornell sports, and they felt that people only showing up for a meal didn’t accomplish that goal.

T.Calvert asserted some people may not be interested in sports, and she felt they should be allowed to have a meal anyway. She noted the purpose of events such as this were to please community members, not rope them in to participation in an event they won’t enjoy.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq decided the EA would vote next week on an allocation to give volunteers free meal tickets.

L.Clougherty wondered if EA members could get a finance report by the next meeting?

C.J.Lance-Duboscq asked C.Hayes for a finance report.

M.Esposito pointed out that each month, the Rogers/Opperman Luncheon is scheduled on the third Monday, meaning that on Wednesday of that week, there will be an EA meeting. He pointed out that spending two hours away from an office during one week can be detrimental to a person’s work, and asked that in the future, the meetings were scheduled for the second or fourth week of the month.

M.Esposito also added that EA elections to the UA are a little over a month away, and since he is not running for a UA executive position - or planning to serve on the UA - he’d like to see someone from the EA run for Chair or Vice-chair. He noted that EA participation in the UA has been great, and urged members to continue their support.

C.Hayes said she couldn’t find the listing of notary publics on the web page and wondered why it wasn’t up?

C.Gardner responded since the list hasn’t been updated, it was probably taken off the web.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq shared with the EA that M.Purvis wondered if the Open Forum list serv would be revived for this year’s Presidential Address.

D.DiBene asked were elections extended?

C.J.Lance-Duboscq replied that the date for submitting ballots was extended to March 24 because the ballots were distributed late.

IV. Announcements and Reports

a. C.J.Lance-Duboscq reminded the EA of the June 7 Annual Presidential Address to Employees, explaining that she and T.Hoebbel had been tossing around the idea of Campus Climate as a discussion topic for that event.

b.There will be a reception for nominees of the George Peter Award for Dedicated Service on March 31 from 4–5 p.m.

c. The next Assemblies leadership meeting will be on March 30.

d. The next Rogers/Opperman Luncheon will be on April 19.

J.DeMarco inquired as to what was discussed at the Rogers/Opperman Luncheon on March 15.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq reported that M.Opperman was in attendance but not F.Rogers, so the question regarding TAC was postponed again. Two questions were presented to M.Opperman.

C.Gardner noted M.Opperman was asked to give updates on her ‘kitchen cabinet’ task forces.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq explained these task forces were established to look at different issues affecting employees.

L.Clougherty listed the names of some of the task forces: child care, sick time, sick policies, compensation groups, flex time, disciplinary agreement policy, recruitment materials for long distant applicants, exempt time tracking, performance management, and supervisor recommendations.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq relayed the group had not really understood the re-engineering question; however, M.Opperman gave an overview of the philosophy Human Resources proceeds with whenever they decide to overhaul an existing department.

C.Woodward inquired what is a “kitchen cabinet”?

C.J.Lance-Duboscq explained that she and T.Hoebbel had gone to a meeting with M.Opperman in the beginning of the year in which M.Opperman decided to create small task forces to look at practices in the employee sector. All employee policies have to go through the Personnel Policy Committee (PPC).

C.Gardner pointed out the UA is currently looking at program documents for Transportation and Mail Services, Campus Store, University Health Services and CURW and the SA was examining program documents for Campus Life and Dean of Students.

T.Calvert added that M.Opperman had also discussed the issue of release time�Time off for volunteer or professional activities. M.Opperman and the PPC weren’t happy with the policy proposed by the Education Committee last year.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq added that Employee Education Committee worked on a policy for employees to take time from their jobs to pursue degrees relevant to their field; do volunteer work, etc. When M.Opperman saw the policy, she had several complaints, and so she sent out the rough policy blind to several Human Resources people on campus. They returned the document to her with a list of complaints.

T.Calvert noted the purpose of the policy was to ensure that supervisors would give their employees time off when necessary; that was one of the stipulations the Human Resources people didn’t like.

C.Gardner explained one of the main concerns was that a specific number of hours each employee should have per week was named. The people who criticized this clause wondered how those hours would be tracked, and thought it would be an administrative nightmare.

D.Stein expressed his belief that M.Opperman looked at the policy from the perspective she gained while working at Harvard under similar policy guidelines. Employees were taking off work for ridiculous reasons and creating tension in departments.

T.Calvert asserted that a “ridiculous reason” might be very valid to some employees; things that are of value are necessarily subjective.

C.Gardner indicated the statute for Cornell read that time off for course work must be for something that is work related.

M.Esposito added that all studies should be employee directed and not supervisor approved.

C.Gardner recalled a previous proposal had asked that any form a supervisor fill out either granting or denying permission for an employee to take a course be completed in triplicate and a copy sent to a central clearing house that would monitor applications to see if any supervisors denied requests repeatedly.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq said this was already a big problem — she knew of entire units who were denied access to employee classes.

D.Howland pointed out the next meeting of the Education Committee would be this Tuesday from 2–3 p.m., and these issues would be a good starting point.

V. Business of the Day

a. Discussion of meeting with the Administration and Communications Issue

C.J.Lance-Duboscq explained the Assemblies sent a joint letter to the Cornell Administration which they presented to administrators, in draft form, at the last Assemblies’ Leadership Meeting. The letter asked the Administration to involve the Assemblies in upcoming events through regular briefings and to ensure the Assemblies know of/have a hand in choosing committee representatives from their constituencies. She explained that in the past, the Administration has chosen people for committees to represent a constituency, and their respective Assembly was never informed, suggesting a real communications breakdown and lack of information flow. She said that at the meeting, M.Esposito opened discussion and shortly after his presentation, F.Rogers expressed his pleasure with the plan. F.Rogers and S.Murphy agreed to read over the letter again and draft an administrative response before the next leadership meeting on the 30.

M.Esposito disagreed slightly, saying he wasn’t sure how the administration would react in the end, but he was hopeful about their response.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq offered to report to the EA as soon as she had more information.

D.Stein asked C.Gardner if such a powerful thing had ever been done by the joint assemblies before; and C.Gardner replied that besides the creation of the GPSA, this was surely the most significant act of the joint assemblies.

L.Clougherty read from the Charter that the bylaws state two people from the EA should be chosen to attend each leadership meeting.

C.Gardner informed the EA that this clause was a bylaw and not part of the charter. In the past the administration tended not to agree with this bylaw and for the sake of continuity allowed only the chairs and vice chairs of each assembly to participate in the leadership meetings.

b. Charter changes for the EA

C.J.Lance-Duboscq suggested the EA wait for the final administrative response to the communications letter before they moved to change the charter, so that information could be included in the proposed changes.

c. Committee Appointments

C.J.Lance-Duboscq went through the list of committees and announced where positions were open for EA representatives.

Communications Committee: J.Worden’s name needs to be added. Employee Education Committee: D.Howland’s name needs to be added. Personnel Policy: A.Vail Internal Operations Committee: M.Overstrom, A.Vail temporarily filling in for her. Work and Family Committee — C.Woodward CRC — 3 employee openings University Benefits Committee — A.Vail; other available spots

D.DiBene wondered where committee descriptions and meeting times could be located?

C.Gardner responded that descriptions were on the web, however, there were no standardized meeting times because the committees meet at the pleasure of the members.

M.Esposito suggested the EA create a Committee on Committees which would do work internally on staffing and reevaluating committees.

J.DeMarco pointed out the IOC does just that.

M.Esposito expressed his belief the IOC wasn’t always able to be on top of committee issues because of its other duties.

C.Gardner noted she would rather have less committees, and urged the EA to work within the structure they currently have.

M.Esposito used the example of L.Russell and P.Kellogg, two group members whose removal and replacement should have been taken care of expeditiously.

C.Gardner asserted that to remove P.Kellogg, the UA’s Committee on Committees would have had to approve the change.

VI. Committee Reports

University Benefits Committee — L.Clougherty reported that TIAA-CREF answered questions why their benefits were not helping all employees. People were upset their retirement money was automatically put into an annuity fund and was then only available after 10 years and only at 10% annually. Next month, Fidelity will be presenting.

University Assembly — M.Esposito reported the EA meeting would be on March 30, and they were looking at a draft of the Transportation and Mail Services program document and voting on CURW’s program document.

Communications Committee — J.DeMarco said the committee met last week where the GPADS sub-committee was firmed up. The group is working on re-designing the EA pamphlet and then will move to work on the PawPrint insert.

Employee Education — D.DiBene announced the next meeting would be on Tuesday.

Internal Operations — J.DeMarco said the committee was busy with elections, and was waiting to see who had submitted committee applications.

C.J.Lance-Duboscq relayed two comments regarding the referendum; both cited problems employees had donating money to a fund because of the potential problems administrating the fund and ensuring the money goes to worthy causes. She said there had also been employees concerned about the University closing for snow a week ago; she pointed out that Tioga Transport apparently was not made aware of the early closing and couldn’t pick everyone up early.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Julia R. Gordon