Present:
Carol Olson, Michelle Chalin, Meghan Goodrich, Jennifer Frew, Scott Melby, Scott Grefe, Amanda Mathiowetz, Molly Kennedy, Connie Anderson, Colleen Ryan, Tom Kolstad, Tom Christensen, Tim Headlee, Shannon Pech, Cindy Jungers

Management:

1. Overtime and OSHA Log Review a. No questions or comments on the overtime log. Asked by AFSCME if we need this log? It was meaningful a few years ago because of the abundance of overtime but is not needed now. Will not need this report for future labor management meetings b. OSHA Log – This will now be sent out electronically prior to the meeting, after AFSCME submits their agenda items to Human Resources. No comments on this month’s OSHA log.

2. Updates on policies a. This information was posted on the SharePoint site. The policy change process will focus on employees now being responsible for reviewing policy changes and sign off on the review. A policy group has been created that will be reviewing polices every two weeks. People throughout the program will be on a drafting team for the specific policy being updated. Once the policy is reviewed by the Policy Group it will become a Forensics or DCT Policy.. There are roughly 500 policies within Forensics so this will be a long process. This is an attempt to consolidate and eliminate some policies. Management stated that a SharePoint site has being created which will publish when a policy is going to be reviewed so those interested can contact the appropriate person should employees want to provide input. b. The first policy completed is a DCT policy. Basically this maintenance policy states that everyone is expected to read and know the policies. This will eliminate signing off on policies after you have read them. This policy will be the last one staff sign off on. Management stated that they do not expect staff to remember every policy by heart. The most important thing is to know that there is a policy in place and where you can find it. c. There is a link to the DCT policy page on the SharePoint site as well as the current policy site. Members can be alerted through their email when a new posting goes on the SharePoint site. Carol Olson will send out another message explaining how to set this up. Management asks that employee’s set alerts to the SharePoint site so that they are made aware of any policy changes occurring.

3. Dressing for Safety a. Last week staff were able to begin wearing hats and using the arm guard sleeves. Management asked AFSCME if they have heard any feedback. It was mentioned that there was one comment made at the Safety Meeting by a staff that was assaulted. Wearing a hat saved them from getting a black eye. It will take time for staff to get used to grabbing the arm guard sleeves before responding. Management talked about the ability to do some drills and practice sessions to help staff become familiar with these new available tools.

AFSCME:

1. Forensics Nursing Home meetings a. The meetings held every Wednesday at 1pm are voluntary for those schedule the later afternoon or overnight shifts. Those employees working the morning shifts and are on duty at the time of the meeting, are required to attend the meeting if they are available. There has been some confusion on this. Staff not scheduled for the 1 pm shift thought that they were required to come in early for this meeting. b. Minutes are posted from this meeting. c. AFSCME asked if inversing expectations have been cleared up. Michele Chalin stated that they have. An issue with inversing has not come up since the last conversation.

2. Transition Services schedule (switching days off) a. The standard for scheduling is still every other weekend off. Jennifer Frew stated that they are down positions so on those weekends with holes, management has asked for volunteers first. If no one volunteers, the shift is filled by reverse seniority. It was stated that staff pick up two additional weekends per year at most. This is being done with a 28 day notice so it does allow time for planning. Management said that they know this messes with what people are used to having off so they try to do this as few and far between as possible. AFSCME asked if this process is being used to cover vacation. Management stated that it can potentially depending on if there are holes in the schedule. If anyone has an alternative way to fill these holes, management would be open to the conversation. AFSCME asked for a better idea of how often this is happening. Jennifer Frew stated that she would get this information.

3. CRP schedule proposal. Was not discussed.

4. MSH Schedule Survey a. This is being widely talked about among SC’s/SCL’s. Staff would like their voices heard on the possibility of a different schedule other than what they have now. Staff would like a survey where they can have an input. This would also give management a good idea of where the members stand if this ever came to a decision making point. Tim Headlee talked to Meghan Goodrich about this who in turn shared the information with Scott Melby. Scott stated that he is open to this. b. Scott said that it sounded like part of the request was to learn more about what a 6-2 rotation looked like. Staff would like to know what the positives/negatives are of a different schedule. Would like to bring some fact to the table and have staff form their own opinion on it. Encourages those who are on a 6-2 rotation to share what they like and what they don’t like. Scott stated that when he has information he will show AFSCME and then have the conversation about where to go from there. He stated that he has some information but it is not fully developed yet for MSH because it is a different program and that he is looking at all scheduling possibilities. Scott said that he is interested in efficient scheduling and doing it in a fair way. Said that he knows there is a history of a 6-2 schedule on campus. c. AFSCME stated that 6-2 should be left out of it because that makes it appear to be the only other option. Scott Melby said that 6-2 is only one of the things he is looking at but that is the only thing staff keep asking about. AFSCME said that staff are worried they are going to get a new schedule with a 28 day notice. Management stated that that will not happen. AFSCME said that with the amount of overtime occurring, a 6-2 schedule would be a stretch. Management said that it is a balancing act with a 24/7 operation. management is trying to find a balance between all employees and what their preferences are with also what the business needs are. Stated that they know days off are important to people. Scott stated that he has an obligation to be efficient. Fair is important as well.

5. MSH vacation approval/denials response time a. Staff have been reporting that if vacation requests do not get reviewed in time, they are automatically denied. Tom Christensen stated that this is the first time he had heard of this happening and that he would look into it. Management asked that if this happens to you please notify TC right away so he can address it immediately. b. There is an enormous amount of time being requested right now by staff that do not have enough time on the books to cover what is requested. This burns up a lot of the scheduling staff time. Management is working with HR to come up with a solution. This does not help your fellow members either. AFSCME stated that in no way do they endorse this. By requesting time beyond what you can earn you hurt your co-workers. AFSCME and management agreed that an audit would be a good idea. c. A new scheduling system has been purchased that will resolve this issue quickly. This system is being piloted at MSOP. The new scheduling system has huge $$$’s attached to it and may become a budgetary issue for Forensics. d. Clarification – if a schedule is posted you can request a day more than 14 days out. It would then go by known needs. It was shared that scheduling is going by the date they open a vacation request instead of the date submitted and then denying the request stating that the schedule is posted. Tom Christensen will be looking into this.

6. Release refusal for the Negotiations Assembly a. Council 5 will send a notification of who is going and when it will be to MMB who in turn sends that to Human Resources. For the assembly held March 13th, Meghan Goodrich stated that they did not receive anything until Chuck Hottinger sent an email on Tuesday, March 10th. From there HR checked and saw that everyone except for 1 staff had the day off or vacation. The area of the 1 staff reported to HR that they were too short staffed that day. HR said that they also never received anything for January’s assembly except for an email from Chuck. This email was given with much more notice so they were able to accommodate. The master team is meeting April 8th and there will be an assembly following sometime after that.

7. MSH overtime distributions out of building a. There was a situation recently where management stated they did not have time to contact those signed up for OT out of the building so 2-3 staff were inversed. AFSCME stated that they would need to get more information on this from Ryan Cates who was unable to attend this meeting. Management stated that they had not heard of this. If something like this does come up, please let Scott Melby and Tom Christensen know so they can address it. b. Unit 200 – A patient is being moved to Pine City. This facility has made a request for our presence. What the facility wanted and what we are going to do is very different. Management has figured out a way to do this without causing overtime. Staff will still have an 8 hour shift. They will drive to the facility and spend 2.5 to 3 hours with the patient. The intention is for this to not go on long. Management stated that they are very supportive in helping to move this person so that is why we will be doing this. Staff on the patient’s former unit have volunteered to do this, mostly those who had good report with the client.

8. Abatement Plan Posting a. Scott Grefe spoke to Laura Sajak about this. The new posting got another objection. Now the plan will have to go in front of an administrative law judge. Anne Barry asked to set up a meeting to update the whole group on where we are with the abatement plan. Working on setting up that meeting right now. The summary of the objection is that the plan does not go far enough to resolve the issue.

9. Admissions Unit a. This was talked about at the Safety Meeting earlier. There will be an open house on Monday, March 23th from 11am – 3pm. This will be announced on the SharePoint site. Encourage people to go to the open house because once the unit is running they do not want staff walking through to check it out. b. Waiting on the electrical inspection before placing patients here. There will be a capacity of 4, 2 – single rooms and 1 bedroom with 2 beds.

10. Term 9 Completion a. It was resubmitted January 30th and Carol said they just heard back from licensing last week Friday. Licensing will be getting back with parameters in the next 30 days. Carol said that they would like to get a small group together to define the variances to the current Rule 36 License. The final step will be to bring the full Term 9 group that was meeting this fall together to review the draft Licensing document. Licensing is coming to do a full review Tuesday, March 31st through Friday, April 3rd. This will be a Rule 36 review and will include Transition, CRP, and MSH. Management has been doing mock surveys because it is important for staff to understand the treatment goal / direction of the program and the patients they serve.

11. Interest bids between programs a. Haven’t had any this month. b. Staff can submit requests.

12. Transition Service a. This is a review item to see if there was a contract put in place with a security company. Management stated that a contract was not looked at. The patient is back on campus at the nursing home. This patient was back a week after last month’s meeting.

13. How many AFSCME positions down is the program a. Scott Grefe has a copy of the positions down state wide. A copy was given to Molly Kennedy and Jenn Frew. b. 1768’s are being submitted for all positions. A lot of them are on hold and some were approved to fill internally and there have been some we have been given permission to fill even if it meant hiring from the street.

Management would like the below addendum added: As many of you are aware there has been a substantial change into the way employees are expected to review policies and procedures. After April 7, 2015 policies and procedures are no longer being placed on the units or in department areas for staff to review and sign off on a staff development form. It is now all of our obligation to be checking the SharePoint Sites for updates and to be familiar with them. An announcement was placed onto the SOFS SharePoint site on March 13, 2015 entitled Policy-Change in Process detailing this. This announcement can be found here. Updates on DCT policies, as well as program procedures have begun. On May 6, 2015 the SOFS SharePoint Site had an announcement in regards to items that have been changed or are under review. Please review the changes by clicking here. You can also set alerts to ensure that you are notified when any changes or modifications are made on the SharePoint Site. Review the “How to Set up Modify or Delete SharePoint Alerts” document. Attached are key policy sites for more specific information. You may want to set up SharePoint Alerts or add as Favorites and check the 1st Tuesday of each month.