PSRC Meeting
October 27, 2011 at 11:00 in the MOB Boardroom
Present: Stu Austen (Chair), Niki Martin, Brenda Morrey, Colin Morton, Mike Mouat, and Doug Preddy
Absent: Curtis Ballard
Election of Officers
Stu Austen was selected as chair of the PSRC and will continue for one more year. The PSRC selected Brenda Morrey as vice-chair for this next year and it was stated that vice-chair would fill-in for the chair when necessary. The PSRC selected Niki Martin as the secretary for another year.
Draft Sick Leave Policy
The PSRC discussed the draft sick leave policy and the emails associated with it, that were sent to the employee group representatives by HR. First and foremost, the PSRC feels that the draft sick leave policy should not be distributed to the Board of Management on their meeting on November 18th. The PSRC feels very strongly about this. The PSRC will draft a letter to HR stating this.
The PSRC discussed and was interested in how HR came up with their statistics that were included in an email to supervisors, indicating abuse of TRIUMF’s sick leave benefits. These sick leave levels were compared to the levels in 2004. It would be beneficial to the PSRC to see the data that those statistics were taken from.
It was stated that members of the PSRC appreciate that the policy needs to be updated and re-worded periodically. However, it appears that the changes to the sick leave policy are in reaction to a few cases of abuse, and perhaps instead of dealing directly with the cases of abuse, HR has decided to change the sick leave policy. The question was brought up about what kind of assistance supervisors receive from HR in dealing with abuse cases. A key question that was brought up numerous times was, what is driving the changes to the sick leave policy?
It was noted that there is a significant change to the sick leave policy, being a maximum of 15 days of basic sick leave per year. Supervisors may have a problem with an individual employee, but it may be a site-wide problem that the supervisor doesn’t know about.
It was noted that in some instances it may be inappropriate to require a medical note from employees’ physicians. In some instances people won’t need to go to their physician due to their illness, therefore putting a burden on the health care system. It was also noted that some physicians require a fee for a doctor’s note, will TRIUMF be willing to reimburse employee’s in these cases.
It was noted that when morale of the site goes down, absenteeism goes up. If people are taking advantage of the sick leave policy, why are they taking advantage, and what can TRIUMF do to help employees feel better at work? Seeing support around the site, was a real morale-booster in the past.
The PSRC discussed how to communicate with the P&S Members regarding the draft sick leave policy. It was suggested that an email to the P&S Members should go out without the draft sick leave policy. The email should include a line stating if anyone wants to discuss the draft policy, then they can contact one of the PSRC members.
Mug Shots
There is a feeling of privacy violation with some information and photos being public.
It should be considered that there be an internal only option for all of the fields. This would cover a lot of people privacy issues.
Niki Martin will draft a memo to the web committee, but distribute to the PSRC beforehand.
AOB
The 10-day carryover limit of vacation days was discussed, as we approach December. It was noted that people need to use up their vacation by the end of the year, because they can only carryover 10 days. It was suggested that the PSRC ask HR for clarification regarding employees that are not able to take the vacation due to operational responsibilities. In some instances some employees had scheduled vacation time, but were unable to take vacation due to being asked to work. For some employees this has happened repeatedly, therefore making it difficult for the employee to take any vacation. What is the compensation for people not being able to take vacation, when their request to the Director to carryover vacation has been refused?
The PSRC will schedule another meeting next month at a similar time as this meeting.
The members that were not elected formally, do we want to encourage them to participate as non-voting members?
What are the proposed salary changes for 2012?