REVISED Minutes of Faculty Welfare Committee &
EPA Personnel Policies Committee
January 14, 2010
The
meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. The meeting was jointly chaired by
Katrina DuBose (Chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee) and Marianna Walker
(Chair of the Faculty).
Faculty
Welfare Committee members present:
Katrina
DuBose (Chair), Charles Boklage, Michael Hartley, Archana Hegde, Linda Ingalls,
Donna Lillian, Chris Locklear, Melissa Nasea, Annette Peery, John Reisch, Susan
Simpson
EPA
Personnel Policies Committee present:
Jim
Mullen (Chair), Ruth Ann Cook, Linda Ingalls, Chris Locklear, Lisa W. Sutton
Vice
Chancellors present:
Phyllis
Horns, Deirdre Mageean, Marilyn Sheerer
Others
present:
Kristen
Bonatz (Assistant University Attorney), Taffye Benson Clayton (Assoc. Provost),
Lori Lee (Faculty Senate), Joseph Thomas (Faculty Advisory Group), Becky Vaughn
(HR Benefits), Marianna Walker (Chair of the Faculty)
Faculty
Chair Walker welcomed the group and introductions were made.
1.
Minutes
of the Faculty Welfare Committee
The
committee considered the minutes of the December 11, 2009 meeting. Melissa
Nasea noted that both 2.E. and 4.B. dealt with ITCS but the actions were
different. She proposed that the actions in 2.E. be made identical to those in
4.B. This was accepted by the Committee. The minutes of the December 11, 2009
meeting were then approved as amended.
2.
Faculty Serious Illness, Maternity and
Parental Leave
EPA
Personnel Policies Committee chair Jim Mullen gave a brief description of the
Committee. It was formed in 2003 and reports to the Chancellor. The UNC General
Administration and the Chancellor/Executive Committee charge it to develop
benefit and leave policies for EPA faculty and non-faculty.
Linda
Ingalls gave a brief history of the Faculty Serious Illness Leave (FSIL)
policy. Around 2004 General Administration developed a FSIL policy and required
that all UNC institutions without one to use that policy or develop one. These
policies were required to provide at least 60 days of paid leave for those
without sick leave. (The 60 days were required to qualify for short term disability
leave.) The Faculty Welfare Committee (FWC), among others, worked on ECU’s
policy and it went into effect in 2005.
In
2009 the Chancellor charged the EPA Personnel Policies Committee with revising
the FSIL. A subcommittee worked on it and put it in Policies, Regulations, and
Rules (PRR) format. The full committee and many others have reviewed it and
many changes have been included. Since the FWC has dealt with many benefit and
leave issues, the EPA Personnel Policies Committee requested its advice on the
policy.
Almost
all of the meeting discussion centered on a recent change to the first sentence
of section 3.2.1.2.
The
draft the FWC received included the sentence:
For maternity leave, the mother is
eligible for leave with pay for the actual period of temporary disability as
prescribed by the medical provider for uncomplicated pregnancy and/or birth.
Linda
Ingalls read the changed sentence (with the change in red italics):
For maternity leave, the mother is
eligible for leave with pay for the actual period of temporary disability up to a maximum of sixty (60)
calendar days as prescribed by the medical provider for uncomplicated
pregnancy and/or birth.
In
II.(B) of the current “Policy on Serious Illness and Disability Leave for
Faculty” the faculty member may request a paid leave “for up to 15 calendar
weeks”.
ECU
Benefits said doctors typically certify that a woman requires 6-8 weeks of
leave for an uncomplicated pregnancy. Sixty calendar days is about 8 ˝ weeks.
Most
ECU faculty using the policy took 15 calendar weeks of maternity leave. Some fathers
took 15 weeks as well.
ECU
SPA and faculty at campuses who accrue sick leave must take unpaid leave for
any part of maternity or illness leave than is longer than their accrued sick
leave.
ECU
has the figures to show that the 2005 ECU policy is fiscally unsustainable. Most
UNC campuses grant 60 calendar days of paid leave for maternity leave and none
grant 15 paid weeks.
Much
of the concern was about giving up a benefit. The 15 weeks of paid maternity
leave is a recruiting benefit. A move from 15 weeks to 60 calendar days would
be a retrenchment which is made even worse by the lack of childcare on the ECU
campus.
It
was reported that one faculty woman was afraid to take maternity leave because
of concern about retaliation from her unit administrator. The group considered
this was poor practice by the administrator.
By
January 28, Linda Ingalls and Lisa Sutton will try to look at the past leaves
and calculate whether the policy would be fiscally sustainable at 10 or 12
weeks of paid maternity leave. This policy has to be mailed to the Board of
Trustees on February 4.
At
5:15 everyone except the FWC, Marianna Walker, and Lori Lee left the room.
3.
Faculty
Scholarly Reassignment
Chris
Locklear gave a short description of the Faculty Scholarly Reassignment policy.
The Academic Council charged a study group to develop a policy to correspond
with UNC Policy Manual 300.2.6. Donna Lillian and John Reisch of the FWC were
members.
A
question was raised about whether the salary repayment in 4.4 could be prorated
if the faculty member receiving the reassignment left full-time employment at
ECU after a little less than a year.
FWC
members with comments should send them to FWC Chair DuBose.
4.
Conclusion
Faculty
Chair Walker commended the Faculty Welfare Committee for its work on the
Faculty Manual revision.
FWC
Chair DuBose will send the Committee a report on the status of all Faculty
Manual sections that it has been requested to review. She hoped to finish this
work in February.
The
meeting was adjourned at 5:30.
Respectfully
submitted by Melissa Nasea.