Dear Colleagues,
As many you are aware we participated in a step 3 grievance mediation over concerns around the district’s use of personnel files.
The issues:
Our contract states that if material of a derogatory nature is to be placed in a member’s personnel file that there are certain conditions that need to be met. The material needs to indicate “cc: personnel file.” and there should be an acknowledgment by the member that they know the material is being placed in the official personnel file. In practical terms, there should be a meeting where the member signs off that they were made aware.
Why did we file the grievance?
A member received two emails from Human Resources stating concerns regarding licensure that were beyond the member’s control. The emails were copied to the personnel file, yet no meeting was scheduled to allow the member to review or rebut the material.
Additionally, we found out that Dr. Lombardo’s responses to personal day requests to take days off before or after a vacation period were being placed in personnel files. We felt that these responses, whether to allow or deny, were derogatory in nature because they listed a three year history of personal day usage with a reminder to use personal days appropriately.
We agreed with the administration on the following items as a result of grievance mediation which are memorialized in a letter of understanding:
1. Requests for personal day immediately preceding or following a vacation day:
a. Personal day requests and responses sent from HR this school year up to January 11, 2017 will be removed from the personnel file.
b. Requests for personal day leave will be sent via email to the Assistant Superintendent of HR and Operations.
c. If approved, the approved email response will be placed in the personnel file. It will not have a history of usage, it will just state the leave is approved.
d. If the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Operations intends to deny the request then an email will be sent to the member denying the request.
e. The denial email will not be placed in the personnel file.
2. The emails sent to our member about licensure (referenced above) will be removed from the member’s personnel file
3. There were some simple changes/clarifications made in the contract language around personnel files including not requiring a meeting to acknowledge the material is going into the file for non-disciplinary materials that might be deemed derogatory, although that a meeting could be requested by either party.
4. We are eliminating the personal leave form from the contract
Conclusion:
Administration has always been able to place materials into our personnel files. We want to ensure that nothing gets slipped into this file without our members knowing about it. We believe we were able to ensure that this happens through this resolution. Our Executive Board voted to approve the letter of understanding as described above at our February meeting.
In Union,
Ari Klein
CHTU President