NEWSLETTER, SETTLEMENTS, GRIEVANCES

[Donated Sick Leave Bank] Update on latest enrollment drive

June 10, 2017 / PSU-AAUP

As we reported on April 17, a new open enrollment window for the donated sick leave bank was opened on April 17 and closed on May 30. PSU-AAUP created a face to face campaign with unit reps to solicit new members for the donated sick leave bank. We held two sick leave bank information sessions on May 16 and May 17, and trained unit reps on April 18th and 19th about how to do the face to face enrollment.

Unit Reps really stepped up! We are so pleased and proud if their willingness to embrace the campaign. There is wide agreement that it is important that we retain this vital benefit in our contract. The final tally from that campaign is in- there were 154 new enrollments in the sick leave bank during the new enrollment window. That was amazing. Thank you to all unit reps and all members that joined. Special thanks to President Jose Padin and Vice President M&O Jennifer Kerns for their leadership and follow through.

Now, the not so great news. In the special call for more hours in March, 103 people that were members of the sick leave bank did not respond to the call for more hours.

Here is the Year to Date data (as of May 30):

Year to Date Donations: $163,808.88

Year to Date Allocations: $175,867.15

Bank Balance: -$ 12,058.27

Number of members awaiting allocation for June paycheck: 10

Number of members receiving allocations that did not donate in last special call (they ran out of sick time): 4

New members April 17 to May 30: 154

Members lost in March special call ("inactive" members): 103

Total members in bank: 371

Net increase in members Mar 1 to May 30: 51

Total active members: 268

This data proves the hypothesis that we were losing significant participation in the bank with each special call. It also tells us that the bank as configured, with its current plan design and donation structure, is not sustainable and needs to be changed as soon as possible.

Based on the negative balance, Human Resources has made a request for another urgent special call to cover the June need. The Donated Sick Leave Bank committee is unanimous in wanting to proceed with a special call, and they all agree that plan design changes must be implemented immediately to stop this cycle of constant catch-up, and to stop the slow death of the pool.

Both administration and PSU-AAUP heard loud and clear the suggestions made during the sick bank sessions in May, and via email. The teams will meet in July after the Executive Director returns from planned absence to consider the following changes. These are possible directions. There is no agreement yet.

possibly allow the bank to run in the deficit until plan change is implemented
possibly change the plan from an opt in plan to an opt out plan for all AAUP bargaining unit members
possibly increase the number of hours for the initial donation
possibly have an open enrollment window window for the opt out for all employees in July
possibly create controls that prevent people who have received a donation from opting out of the bank for a certain period of time
possibly reducing the benefit level

The changes we are already being reviewed: