Regular and reliable attendance is an essential function and a requirement of all positions at the university. Failure to maintain regular and reliable attendance as determined by the University may lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.
AT WILL EMPLOYMENT
January 2011
All staff employees are employed on an at will basis. This means that both the employee and the University may end the employment relationship at any time and for any reason, with or without advance notice or cause. Nothing in this Personnel Manual is intended to or shall be interpreted to change the at will nature of a staff employee's employment at PLU. Similarly, nothing in this Personnel Manual is intended to or shall be interpreted to make any promise of specific treatment in any specific situation.
Pacific Lutheran University values the safety, health and well being of all employees. PLU policy is to provide safe and healthful working conditions in all operations and to follow the laws and regulations about the safety and health of our employees. When working with supervisors and employees, PLU will draw on all applicable policies.
Should you become injured or ill, it is important that you return to employment as early as is medically safe for you to do so. At the same time, however, it is important that you not return to work unless it is medically safe. A doctor's release may be required prior to your return to work. Your supervisor and/or Human Resources will stay in contact with you and your medical provider to keep up-to-date on your recovery progress.
Light duty assignments may be developed where possible for employees who are unable to return to their normal duties while recovering from their injuries. Light duty assignments will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you are eligible for a light duty assignment, your medical provider will be contacted to furnish information on the nature of the work you are medically able to perform. If accommodations are necessary to perform your duties, the university will attempt to make reasonable accommodations.
Should you be assigned to light duty, you will be expected to follow the advice of your medical provider. If you have trouble performing these duties, let your supervisor know immediately. You then need to follow-up with your medical provider. She/he should provide a written report giving medical reasons why you are unable to continue working.
PLU reserves the right to ask for a second and/or third medical opinion at its expense where it is concerned about the medical ability of an employee to return to work or to perform light duties.
No one knows your job better than you do. Please help us by making suggestions about what duties you feel you can safely perform. Also, please let us know how your job might be changed so you, or an injured co-worker, can more easily and safely do it.
Please report all injuries or hazardous situations to your supervisor as soon as possible.
CONTINUOUS SERVICE
Revised October 2009
Many of the benefits of employment are determined at least in part by an employee's length of service. Therefore, the computation of "continuous service" must be accomplished in a fair, consistent, and impartial manner.
Continuous service begins with a person's date of employment in a benefits eligible position and is not broken by leaves of absence so long as an employee returns to work before the expiration of such leaves. Continuous service is also not broken by entry into military service so long as the employee exercises his or her return rights and all conditions established by the U.S. Department of Labor regarding such return are met.
Continuous service under this policy is broken in the event of:
Employees who are rehired by the university in a benefits eligible position within one year (365 days or less) following voluntary termination or layoff will receive credit for their prior benefits eligible service for service awards.
Some of the university's benefit plans have different definitions relative to a break in service, and such definition will apply to those benefit plans. Please contact Human Resources if you have a specific question about a possible break in service.
EMPLOYMENT PROCEDURES
Updated January 2011
Authority to fill a vacant or newly created position is obtained by completing a Position Request form and routing it through the appropriate budget head, dean or director, vice president(s), President's Council and Human Resources. Human Resources will assure that the position has been properly classified and will establish the hiring salary range.
Job Vacancy announcements are prepared for all positions in which applications will be accepted. Essential duties of the job will be clearly identified along with required and preferred job qualifications.
Generally staff and administrative positions are posted in Human Resources, listed on the PLU Job Line, and posted on the PLU website. Positions may be advertised in a variety of other ways depending on the type of position.
Appropriate advertising and mailing lists are used to solicit applications. To develop diverse applicant pools, recruiting procedures are reviewed for consistency with the university's Affirmative Action Plan.
Positions are sometimes advertised internally first for current university employees to afford them the opportunity to be considered for advancement or transfer. If on-campus efforts are unsuccessful, the position may be opened to all applicants. Positions may, however, be directly opened to all applicants.
For most staff and administrative positions, applications are pre-screened by Human Resources using specific criteria provided by the hiring department. The hiring department may interview as many applicants as desired. The salary offered to the finalist will be determined by Human Resources with input from the hiring department. Employment offers will typically be made by the hiring manager, and HR will confirm the starting date and salary in writing with the selected applicant.
Employee Labor Relations
The university believes the best interests of its employees are served by direct contact with the university's management rather than through representation by an outside organization.
The university makes every effort to treat employees honestly, equitably, and objectively by developing and administering human resource policies and programs designed to assure fair, consistent, and individual treatment for every employee. By providing these programs, the university believes that employees will have no need to work through a union form of employee organization.
National Labor Policy
Pursuant to national labor policy, employees have the right to choose freely whether they wish to form or join unions or whether they wish to deal directly with management. The university acknowledges this policy.
Relationship by family or marriage constitutes neither an advantage nor a deterrent to appointment by the university, provided that the individual meets the appropriate standards for the position to be filled and provided that the individual will not be in the chain of supervision of a spouse, family member, or person with whom the individual is dating. Employment will be denied under the following circumstances:
Applicants who are denied employment to a particular position for one of the foregoing reasons will be considered for other vacant positions for which they may be qualified. Failure to advise the university of the existence of one of these circumstances may result in a withdrawal of an offer of employment or actual discharge from employment.
Existing PLU employees who become involved in one of the foregoing circumstances have an obligation to advise the university about the conflict. Every effort will be made to resolve the conflict without loss of employment to either employee, however, the university reserves the right to transfer one or both employees, to discharge one or both employees or to demote one or both employees to resolve the conflict. Employees who fail to advise the university of the existence of a family, spousal or dating relationship under one of these circumstances will be subject to discipline, up to and including discharge.
Orientation is an important part of becoming familiar with one's job, work environment, and the university. The supervisor is primarily responsible for orienting new employees. Assistance will come from the Personnel Manual, fellow employees, Human Resources Benefits Orientation, and a formal orientation meeting for new staff and administrators conducted twice a year.
Personnel files for all current staff, faculty, and administrators are maintained within Human Resources. For mutual protection, confidentiality is used when addressing all personnel-related matters.
It is important for legal and business purposes that Human Resources maintain current personal information in each employee's personnel file regarding legal name, home or forwarding address, telephone number, emergency contact, and marital and/or dependent status. It is the employee's responsibility to notify Human Resources of any changes to information necessary to keep benefits status and employment data current and accurate.
Employees may have access to their personnel files, which do not include pre-employment reference information. Any employee who wishes to review his or her personnel file should contact Human Resources to schedule a mutually convenient time when the file can be reviewed. The personnel file cannot be removed from Human Resources. However, employees may request copies of documents in the file. If the employee identifies file information that he or she believes to be irrelevant or incorrect, the employee can request that the file information be removed or can prepare a rebuttal or corrective statement for the personnel file.
PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING POLICY - ADMINISTRATORS AND STAFF
October 2000; Revised January 2011
The university seeks to hire well-qualified applicants for vacant positions. To achieve this goal, the university has developed this policy regarding background checks, reference verifications and related inquiries. This policy applies to all regular full-time and regular part-time staff and administrator positions filled after the effective date of this policy. The university will determine whether this policy will apply to temporary positions, on a case-by-case basis, depending on factors such as the nature, duration, scope and duties of the position.
Position offers (both verbal and written) to finalist candidates for staff and administrator positions, whether they currently work for PLU or not, are contingent upon satisfactory completion of the pre-employment screening process. Refusal to complete the process or the receipt of questionable or unsatisfactory information during the screening process may result in the position offer being rescinded. The verification process will generally include:
Where appropriate, records outside Washington State and Pierce County will be reviewed. For example, this would apply in the case of a finalist from another state.
All finalists must complete the background check packet to permit the university to obtain necessary information. These documents are available in Human Resources. Because these documents are needed to comply with legal obligations, the verification process will begin after the background check packet and employment application have been completed.
As soon as finalist candidates are identified, the hiring official must notify Human Resources, who is responsible for coordinating the background check and screening process. Human Resources maintains a central budget to pay for the cost of the pre-employment screens. The employment application materials, background check, and results are kept in Human Resources.
Human Resources will review the results of the pre-employment checks and share them on a "need to know" basis.
PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING POLICY - FACULTY
September 2002; Updated January 2010; Updated January 2011
The university seeks to hire well-qualified candidates for vacant positions. As one step towards achieving this goal, the university conducts a variety of pre-employment verifications.
This policy applies to all faculty positions filled after the effective date of this policy. The background verification process outlined here is a supplement to, not a replacement for, the standard employment references that should be completed by faculty search committees.
Position offers (both verbal and written) to finalist faculty candidates are contingent upon satisfactory completion of the pre-employment screening process. Refusal to complete the process or the receipt of questionable or unsatisfactory information during the screening process may result in the position offer being rescinded. The verification process will generally include:
Where appropriate, records outside Washington State and Pierce County will be reviewed. For example, this would apply in the case of a finalist from another state.
Based on the requirements of the position, other items may be screened as appropriate. For example: positions requiring a valid driver's license may require a driving record and valid state driver's license verification; positions requiring physical skills (for example, physical education positions or others requiring frequent lifting, bending, etc.) may require satisfactory completion of a physical capacities exam once a conditional job offer has been extended.
When finalist candidates return their employment contract, they should complete the PLU employment application and the background check packet. These documents are available in Human Resources. Because these documents are needed to comply with legal obligations, the verification process will begin after the background check packet and employment application have been completed.
When the top candidate is selected and the employment contract has been signed, Human Resources coordinates items 2 and 3 of the screening process outlined above.
Human Resources maintains a central budget to pay for the cost of the pre-employment verifications. The employment application, background check, and results are kept in Human Resources. The results of the pre-screening process will be shared with the appropriate hiring official(s).
Departing employees are asked to clear campus by completing an outprocessing form to ensure there are no outstanding obligations. In some cases Human Resources may coordinate this information gathering process. The outprocessing form also ensures that Human Resources and Payroll have a forwarding address (if appropriate). The completed form is normally turned in to Human Resources on the last day of work.
Staff employees are requested to give at least ten working days notice of resignation. Introductory, training and temporary staff members need not give prior notice when terminating. The notice should be in writing and include last day of work, and reason for resignation. It is from this data that the employee's final paycheck is calculated. The termination date will be the employee's last day actively worked. The employee cannot claim sick or vacation leave on their last day of employment.
Administrators may terminate their employment with the university prior to the expiration of the employment contract only with the consent of the university. Such consent will not be unreasonably withheld. Administrators are requested to give at least 20 working days notice of resignation. The termination date will be the employee's last day actively worked. Letters requesting release from contract should be addressed to the President, with copies to the supervisor and Human Resources. The letter should include the last day of work and reason for requesting release.
The university strives to maintain staffing levels and organizational structures that efficiently match the workload on campus. Changes may be necessary from time to time to ensure both effectiveness and efficiency.
Introduction and Decision-Making
In the event of a change in program or services, whether or not there is financial exigency, an officer of the university may initiate a reduction and/or reallocation in force (RIF). The magnitude of such a RIF is determined by the extent of the change required. When this occurs, the university will make reasonable efforts to eliminate positions through attrition or other means to avoid laying off employees. Among the many factors to be considered are:
Once a decision is made and accepted by the appropriate officer, a written termination notice will be communicated expeditiously to the affected employee(s). Individuals whose positions are being eliminated will receive at least two weeks notice of job elimination, or pay in lieu of notice.
Reduction in Force Benefits
PLU recognizes the loss of one's job can create both financial and emotional pressures. When an employee's job is eliminated or when employment is lost in a reorganization and not regained in the new organization, or elsewhere on campus, the university may provide certain benefits to ease the transition. These severance benefits, if any, will be communicated and coordinated by Human Resources.
Recall
If the position from which an employee was laid off is re-established within 120 calendar days from the date of the staff member's layoff, the laid off employee will then be notified by the department head in writing and asked to return to the job, at which point the employee will have two weeks to do so. During the 120 days following layoff, the laid off staff member may apply for any other position in the university that becomes available, and will be considered for transfer/promotion on the same basis as active employees.
Employees are not entitled to receive additional pay in lieu of accumulated vacation leave upon separation of employment. Depending on the specific facts of an individual situation and subject to such documentation as the University may require, PLU generally follows these guidelines: