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K-State Today

March 14, 2013

Highlights from March 6 Classified Senate meeting

Submitted by Pat Fine

Here are the highlights from the March 6 Classified Senate meeting. A draft of the meeting minutes is available at http://www.k-state.edu/class-senate/minutes/mar13.pdf.

Julie Wilburn was welcomed by President Dale Billam as a new member of Classified Senate.

Gary Leitnaker handed out copies of the proposed policies and procedures for the employee suggestion program. He also informed Classified Senate that changes to KPERS contributions and calculations are coming in calendar year 2014. Every active member in KPERS will need to make an election this fall on their future retirement options. Representatives from KPERS will probably have meetings at the Benefits Expo in October to discuss the changes in KPERS that take effect next year. Human Resources will also be very involved in helping people be informed to make the best choice for themselves.

Carol Marden reported for the Campus Affairs Committee that work continues on updating the Classified Senate website. The committee hopes to have proposed changes to the website ready for the entire senate to view at the next meeting in April.

Lesa Reves reported for the Legislative Affairs Committee that elections are ongoing until March 15. She and co-chair Janice Taggart asked that senators in areas where elections were being held let their constituents know to check their spam folders if they did not receive a ballot in their inbox, and to find ways for employees to access computers to vote.

Four members of the Alternative Service Committee — Carol Marden, Janel Harder, Marlene Walker and Barb Nagel — distributed information, discussed the work of the committee and answered questions. Two more sessions have been added to the informational meetings to be in April and May. Both will be at the Division of Human Resources conference room. The members talked about motivating factors for looking at alternative service: having options, increased flexibility and to enhance employment. Three things that won’t change if we move to alternative service are health insurance, leave and retirement. Nothing will affect the agreements with unions and there will be no layoffs or salary reductions because of a move to alternative service. The committee members then discussed the four white papers that they have published: Performance Appraisal, Discipline/Protection System, Compensation and Recruitment.

The Alternative Service Committee members encouraged all classified employees to attend one of the informational sessions available. Registration is available through the HRIS self-service portal. More information is also available on the Alternative Service Committee website.