AGENDA #5c

MEMORANDUM

TO:	Mayor and Town Council
FROM:	Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
SUBJECT:	Response to Petition Regarding Pre-Disciplinary Process
DATE:	October 22, 2007

PURPOSE

The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a petition submitted to the Council at the June 27, 2007 business meeting.  The petition, presented by Alan McSurley, requested that the process for handling pre-disciplinary conferences be amended to include a deadline by which employees must be notified of the findings of the conference.  Mr. McSurley also expressed concern that employees were not allowed to have a representative present during a pre-disciplinary conference.

BACKGROUND

In the petition presented on June 27, Mr. McSurley referred to two specific disciplinary cases in which employees reportedly felt the time delays in the processing of their cases were excessive. He noted that neither the Town Ordinances nor personnel policies mention a specify time limit for department heads to notify employees of the results of a pre-disciplinary conference.  He requested that a time limit for such response be established.

Mr. McSurley also asked the Town to consider amending the disciplinary policies to allow an employee to have a representative present during a pre-disciplinary conference.

Sec. 14-105 (a) (3) of the Town Code states:

 “When serious incidents of unsatisfactory job performance occur, suspension may occur without prior warning.  Employees must be given an opportunity to explain or defend their actions before a suspension can extend more than three (3) days and before termination or demotion is recommended to the manager.”

Sec. 14-105 (c) states:

 “When serious incidents of unsatisfactory job performance occur, suspension, termination or other disciplinary action may occur without prior warning.”

Sec. 14-109 states:

“When an employee is suspended, demoted, or terminated for detrimental personal conduct or unsatisfactory job performance, the department head or supervisor shall provide the employee with written notice of the action taken, the effective date, the reasons for the action and the recourse available to the employee under the provisions of this chapter.”

DISCUSSION

The two issues raised by Mr. McSurley are addressed in part by our current Town Ordinances and Personnel Policies.

• The first concern, that of timely notification, is addressed in Town’s Administrative Personnel Policies under “Pre-Disciplinary Conference.”The Policy currently provides:
  •  “Communication of the decision should take place at least 24 hours after the conference; this emphasizes that the employee’s input at the conference has been considered.”

  We are amending the policy such that the timeframes to communicate a decision to an employee are restated to say:

  • “Communication of the decision should take place no sooner than 24 hours after the conference and within three business days. In circumstances when new information presented at the pre-disciplinary conference requires further investigation, additional time would be permitted.”
• The second concern involves permitting employees to have a representative at the discipline meeting.  Our current policy states:
  • “At the pre-disciplinary conference, the employee receives an explanation of the evidence or the reason discipline is being considered and has an opportunity to present his/her side of the story. The employee does not have a right to have a representative at the pre-disciplinary conference, but the department may allow this. If the department allows the employee to have a representative and the employee chooses to have an attorney, the Town’s attorney must be present at the conference as well. Under normal circumstances, neither the employee nor the department will call witnesses.”
  • We are amending the policy to provide that employees do have a right to have a representative in those instances in which the prospective action may be a major suspension (3 days or longer), demotion or termination. If the employee chooses to have an attorney, prior notification of at least 24 hours must be received so that the Town’s attorney, who must be present, has sufficient time to make himself available. If necessary, the pre-disciplinary hearing should be rescheduled when all parties are available.

CONCLUSION

We believe that these changes to our administrative policies in response to this petition will improve our employees’ opportunities to have their concerns considered in matters of employee discipline.