We took our protest to UW President Michael Young today, delivering
the letter below at his campus wide open discussion about staff issues
on campus.
He responded to questioning by saying that, most
definitely "when someone is placed on paid administrative leave they
should be told immediately of any charges against them and should be
given a time line for any adjudication process". He said there was no
exception to this policy for the custodial department. After the
Presiden
t's talk the head of Human
Resources, Mindy Kornberg told us in the lobby that the employee in
question would be sent a letter tomorrow explaining why he has been
placed on Admin Leave. She said that it was "outrageous" he had not
been told.
Open Letter to President Young Regarding a Suspended Employee:
Dear President Michael Young,
A member of our union, Washington Federation of State Employees, Local
1488, has been placed on paid administrative leave by Building Services
Director Gene Woodard, for the past 10 weeks (since the day before
Thanksgiving). Despite repeated inquiries, we have not received an
explanation as to the reason behind this suspension.
The only
indication we have is that the member has been questioned about the
distribution of his personal newsletter, which he has distributed within
the department (on his own time) for 6 years. To our knowledge, there
are no charges against him. We have not been told if there is an
investigation ongoing; and if there is, what it is about. In the
meantime, yet another vacancy has been created within the ranks of
Custodial Services where members are already seriously overworked. How
long will this continue?
President Young, please do what you can to resolve this issue.
Sincerely,
Paula Lukaszek,
President Local 1488
