Present: Joann Holton, Adam Castle, Mike Homer, Matt Stenger, Eric Hesse, Jessica Miller, Bonnie Wold, Zach Soweija, Mike Goeghlin, Troy Sherwood, Michelle Sexe, Tim Benesh
AFSCME AGENDA ITEMS
Follow Up Items: 1. CERP-Bonnie-DHS policy spells out steps of what to do. It is the employee’s responsibility to follow those procedures. POLICY: http://infolink.dhs.int.state.mn.us/InfoLink/Policies_Procedures/Humanre... 2. OT/Inverse Numbers-Bonnie-1st watch had 123 hours on 23 inverses. 2nd watch had 214.76 hours on 54 inverses, and 3rd watch had 92 hours on 15 inverses in the month of June. 3. A-Team Duties-Mike-We revised the post orders. Some tasks were eliminated and some shifted to units to free up the A-Team. One example is the MPR is now checked by unit staff. Door checks were eliminated off of 3rd. This is in effect right now. We are removing door checks at CPS. CPS staff now completes these. 4. Leave of Absence-Zach-Background checks are a licensing requirement. Matt-Where is the language? Jessica will send that out to molly. These have to be done after 120 days of absence. Even PPL would apply to everyone. Hesse-This just seems weird that if you have a kid, when it’s something the state gave us, we have to then do another background check.
New Agenda Items: 1. FMLA Changes-Hesse-You must have a sick occurrence to even apply for FMLA? Why? Zach-Department of Labor came in and saw that these weren’t being done correctly. You must have a sickness. MMB went around state wide and they found out that not all agencies were following FMLA federal law. Matt-When did this come down about using overtime against an employee. Zach-that has been in effect since 2009. Matt- I have never gotten an FMLA deduction from overnights. It’s new to us. Never been done. Zach-it’s not new and it’s being sent out in final designation law. You can follow up with your supervisor. But that doesn’t happen here. Matt-We are saying this is not the practice. Zach-it’s in the federal law. Hesse-Citing FMLA titles. With this change, this is an interference of these rights. Matt-This has never been the practice. Zach-it is actually happening, if you haven’t seen it, then I can’t speak to that. Matt-this has been happening as a pilot program from DOC and has grown legs into DHS. Zach-this has been happening. Joann-so if I have my husband ill and it’s not me it’s him. Until he goes to the doctor, I can’t even get FMLA? Even though I have done this for years? Zach-that is my understanding. Joann-a woman I know said she ended up in mayo with her husband trying to get paperwork sent. She could not get this before. This doesn’t make sense, if this is a common problem. Why can’t we get the paperwork? Molly-people are trying to get the paperwork. And there are questions about when and what it is but they can’t get the paperwork. Zach-I will get the info on that and get it to you. Hesse-A memo on DHS, it says DHS encourages employees to provide 30 days’ notice. But they are enforcing this as must. Zach-they are not because if you are requesting the paperwork from the doctor. You don’t have to tell them in advance. You just get it at the appointment. How long is the process to get paperwork? Zach-timeline is 21 days to be granted. Hesse-if the occurrence is prior and you go off books, will this lead to investigation? Zach-absolutely not if FMLA is in the works. Homer-how long will that hold off then if I call in sick and I got the paperwork. And the doctor says I want to see you first? Zach-that’s the 21 timeline. Resubmit. Homer-some of them are for their wife but the doctor is in cities. It takes 3 to 4 weeks that will push beyond 21 days. Will they get in trouble? Zach-specific cases I will have to check with management and talk about it. Homer-what is the best thing? Zach-Direct to labor management coordinator. Hesse- a lot of members are upset along with other unions. We will be requesting a joint meeting about FMLA. 2. Kitchen Post-Hesse-Units and security counselors are doing the coverage. Troy-we are reviewing it and trying to get it filled. The ODs are figuring out the coverage. More to come. Molly-vocational spot we are obligated to review VTR’s once a quarter. Why is there not a set supervisor assessing their work? No one is there to do it because there is someone different every day. Mike-Cole was filling out these forms and would get info from others. Something to think about. Hesse-membership isn’t happy and this will become a morale issue. 3. Staff Searches in Pexton Lobby-Hesse-After 3rd watch, A team did searches in front of everyone and there is no privacy, if they did have contraband it needs to be more private. Mike-we can use the back office for that. Hesse-There is a trend that counselors are the focus. Mike-it is completely random generation. Matt-I have sat and watched how they get these numbers. If they don’t like the one they get, they will rerun it. Mike-I can say that it is done beforehand and is done by the previous shift OD and have no personal investment. 4. Lower Access Booth/A Team-Hesse-A Team was notified they will be taking over the access booth? Mike-at some point we would hope to but that isn’t happening. MSOP will need to start taking over lower campus responsibilities. As it occurs we will take on more. Hesse-is it just A team doing this? Mike-at this time we are looking at A team. They are our responders. We have positions that people may have different responsibilities. We don’t have all of this figured out. Matt-can we ask to be included in this. Mike-yes we are always open. 5. Positions being Posted-Molly-staff are confused that some postings just have cps. Utility, ops. 2nd watch SC, building services? Mike-I have to look into it. Sexe-we were just talking about this with CPS and talking about cleaning it up. More about work hours, not the post. The Shift and days off. We took PCNs from perimeter and were posted that way. Building services? Jessica-I will look that one up. Matt-are you participating in job fair with MSH in September? Bonnie-haven’t heard about it. Matt-they want to put into effect the incentives package before that to help fill. Jessica-noting finalized yet. 6. Inverse/Subsequent Shift Release Times-Hesse-There was an incident where someone scheduled late came in for subsequent overtime. Came back at 2 am. People were inversed but the OD let the subsequent overtime staff go because it would have been more than 16 hours. There is nothing against working more than 16 hours. For subsequent you are signed up for entire shift. Inverses would leave instead. Mike-inverses should be. We’ll make attempts when possible. We’ll look into this situation to get the details. 7. Inversing Intermittents-Hesse-I was talking to JR and we have a situation with the new MSU staff. We were talking about being inversed and about intermittents as a whole. Tim told him it would be ok to inverse intermittent. If it’s just a person working one day, how can they be inversible? This hasn’t happened but just want to start the conversation. Bonnie-we need to look into it more for details. Molly-Talking to Alex because he is eligible to be in the bargaining unit. He said he gets a schedule but it is not on the scheduling program. There are parameters and this needs to be legit. A visible schedule would be fine. Jessica-I haven’t heard a specific schedule so I will look into it. Molly-status is intermittent. 8. Bump to Nights-Hesse-The word is that people will be bumped to nights. We have a conversation about this. We think this is a good practice. Jessica-the seniority roster was sent out as asked last time. Hesse-yeah but it would be so easy to send an email to those people for a heads up. It’s not that much more work. Would be nice is all. Matt-we are doing this at MSH, I can send you how they do it. Jessica-we try to send more than 14 days out. Hesse-There was a bumping situation where he exercised the bidding right and then was bumped again. Can we have the staff’s rights reinstated? Jessica-well look into that. 9. SNV When Inversible-Molly-During roll call in the morning, if staff was told they were least senior and then sign up for SNV. You get called and take SNV, even though you could be inversed. One person was told they can’t sign up because of being close to being inversed. Another one was told they were inversed, then signed up for SNV and was drawn. Staff got a call and told you can take it but have to come back at 2pm for the shift you were inversed to. Bonnie and Mike-we will look into this. 10. Transport/All Day Long Trips-Homer-If management sees it as a day long trip, can the staff be given notice so they are aware to plan for it since it is in phoenix anyway? Mike-there are unforeseen situations and we also encourage all staff to try to plan when it its possible. We’ll look into it. 11. Staff to Hospital-Hesse-There was an attempt of assault on staff. He didn’t want to go but was told to go. He was told it wasn’t counted as his inverse or being paid. If he is directed to go, then he should be given payment. Bonnie-we were told he wasn’t forced to go. Troy-I gave OD the directive to strongly encourage the staff member to go. We can’t force them but it is a good practice. He wanted to stay to complete his report first. 12. Being Posted in Posts Without Full Training or Testing Out-Hesse-There have been recent reports in control center that OD has been putting someone in there without being tested out and was alone. We believe this is detrimental and setting staff up for failure with discipline. Mike-That shouldn’t be happening. Bonnie-we will look into that. 13. Add on-Hesse-When someone is brought back into the facility, direct staff was not notified. There are clients that were informed but not staff. Michelle-Every time this happens, we learn from it. We want to improve and this is a good point. We have a lot going on and forget some things. Management Agenda Items: 1. Process When Clients Assault Staff/Clients-Troy-There was an attempted staff assault. We want to go over some things. Seemed like we did the best we could as far as getting staff to hospital to get checked out and sit down with staff. Each is different and we measure the severity. OSI came in and helped out. They need injuries to present to the police department. We did have staff questioning why the client is still here, why is he back? We used tools we have and ODs did a good job and this will help for 24 hours. We placed the client on AR and ran it side by side which gave us 72 hours for OSI to present to the police department. They did get a case started and we left AR in place. When we have that ironed out we think what is best for client? If the treatment is better here in St. Peter, that’s where he will be. He went to Moose Lake and came back before. We need to think about the message to our clients. We don’t want to set precedence that just assault staff and you will go back to Moose Lake, when someone wants to do that. Clinical feels this is the best place for him. We met with counselor and the staff and unit he was going to go to. Everyone was receptive, but we could have been better with going to roll call to have management do that. Clinical did one roll call, so only some saw that. We are trying to bridge the communication. Bonnie-we have special forums about why some guys go to county etc. we think it may be good to do the training on an annual basis for new staff. Molly-we talked about a purple packet for staff going to the hospital. In MSH they have a checklist and they send it with the staff. Hesse-information about what to do. It has work eligibility info as well. Troy-And first report of injury. Matt-I can bring one down if you like. Troy-EAP did come in, it was good attendance. Past assaults came in and it’s starting to be used. Joann-did they respond quickly, EAP? Troy-Yeah, they came in within 24 hours. 2. Staff Performance Reviews and Individual Development Plans-Troy-They are due end of September. Last year a lot of staff saw these as possibly being in trouble. It’s not that, the plan is sent to staff and there for feedback if they want to improve training. More duties. It’s just a way to measure how you are doing. This isn’t a performance review tool. 3. Step Increases: Bonnie-We have talked about formal disciplines and they will be looked at on an individual basis as far as being given step increases. They will only be situations that are suspensions but on a case by case basis. 4. Hearing there is a tough time finding union reps on 1st and 3rd watches. Hesse-we are looking into this as well and will be having another training. Matt-we are asking for more of a notice before investigations. I have been getting 5 minute notices. Molly-you can borrow form MSH too. 5. Facebook and social media in direct supervision. Bonnie-A lot of people doing it and it’s becoming the norm. Make sure staff are aware and to read the post orders for where to access non work related. Molly-we have no room to go to for this in CPS. Michelle-we will find a place. Tim-we want to be careful to not have this turn into “the break room” Hesse- I understand why this is in place. But seems like this is only pertaining to security counselors. We can see some professional staff doing this. Bonnie-They might be on their breaks. It is only when you are in direct supervision of clients. Bonnie-if you are seeing this you can write incident reports. 6. Safety committee members are not attending. Bonnie-We don’t know who your rep is. The next one is in august. We have them every other month. They are at 1pm. Heidi is the contact for that. 7. Tim/Michelle-We will try to be here at the meetings as much as possible. If not, we are probably in court. Meeting Adjourned at 1030am.
245C.04 WHEN BACKGROUND STUDY MUST OCCUR.
Subdivision 1.Licensed programs. (a) The commissioner shall conduct a background study of an individual required to be studied under section 245C.03, subdivision 1, at least upon application for initial license for all license types. (b) The commissioner shall conduct a background study of an individual required to be studied under section 245C.03, subdivision 1, at reapplication for a license for family child care. (c) The commissioner is not required to conduct a study of an individual at the time of reapplication for a license if the individual's background study was completed by the commissioner of human services and the following conditions are met: (1) a study of the individual was conducted either at the time of initial licensure or when the individual became affiliated with the license holder; (2) the individual has been continuously affiliated with the license holder since the last study was conducted; and (3) the last study of the individual was conducted on or after October 1, 1995. (d) The commissioner of human services shall conduct a background study of an individual specified under section 245C.03, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clauses (2) to (6), who is newly affiliated with a child foster care license holder. The county or private agency shall collect and forward to the commissioner the information required under section 245C.05, subdivisions 1 and 5. The background study conducted by the commissioner of human services under this paragraph must include a review of the information required under section 245C.08, subdivisions 1, 3, and 4. (e) The commissioner shall conduct a background study of an individual specified under section 245C.03, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), clauses (2) to (6), who is newly affiliated with an adult foster care or family adult day services license holder: (1) the county shall collect and forward to the commissioner the information required under section 245C.05, subdivision 1, paragraphs (a) and (b), and subdivision 5, paragraphs (a) and (b), for background studies conducted by the commissioner for all family adult day services and for adult foster care when the adult foster care license holder resides in the adult foster care residence; (2) the license holder shall collect and forward to the commissioner the information required under section 245C.05, subdivisions 1, paragraphs (a) and (b); and 5, paragraphs (a) and (b), for background studies conducted by the commissioner for adult foster care when the license holder does not reside in the adult foster care residence; and (3) the background study conducted by the commissioner under this paragraph must include a review of the information required under section 245C.08, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), and subdivisions 3 and 4. (f) Applicants for licensure, license holders, and other entities as provided in this chapter must submit completed background study requests to the commissioner using the electronic system known as NETStudy before individuals specified in section 245C.03, subdivision 1, begin positions allowing direct contact in any licensed program. (g) For an individual who is not on the entity's active roster, the entity must initiate a new background study through NETStudy when: (1) an individual returns to a position requiring a background study following an absence of 120 or more consecutive days; or (2) a program that discontinued providing licensed direct contact services for 120 or more consecutive days begins to provide direct contact licensed services again.
BACKGROUND STUDY PRIVACY NOTICE
Because the Minnesota Department of Human Services is requesting that you provide private information about yourself, the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act requires that you be informed of the following:
1. Purpose and intended us of the information: Minnesota Statues, chapter 245C, requires the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to conduct background studies on individuals providing direct contact services to people receiving services from facilities and agencies licensed by DHS. The background studies are to be completed according to the requirements in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 245C. The information requested will be used to perform a background study of you that will include at least a review of criminal conviction records held by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and records of substantiated maltreatment of vulnerable adults and children. DHS may also later require you to submit additional information and/or your fingerprints if necessary to complete your background study. For all individuals who a subject to background studies by DHS, the corrections system will report new criminal convictions for disqualifying crimes to DHS. County agencies and the Minnesota Department of Health report substantiated findings of maltreatment of minors and vulnerable adults to DHS.
2. Whether you may refuse or are legally required to provide the information: Minnesota Statutes, chapter 245C, state that the individual who is the subject of a study must provide sufficient information to ensure an accurate background study.
3. Known consequences that may arise from supplying the information: Individuals who have histories with the characteristics identified in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 245C, will be disqualified from positions allowing direct contact with persons receiving services. Health-related licensing boards will make a determination whether to impose disciplinary or corrective action on individuals regulated by health-related licensing boards who have been determined to be responsible for substantiated maltreatment. Individuals who do not have disqualifying characteristics will not be disqualified.
4. Known consequences that will arise from refusing to supply the requesting information: Only items identified as “optional” my be left blank. Refusal to provide the information necessary to ensure an accurate and complete background study will result in your disqualification and an order to the agency or facility to remove you from any position allowing direct contact to persons receiving services.
5. Identification of other agencies or entities authorized to receive this information: The information you provide will be shared with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. If DHS has reasonable cause to believe that other agencies may have information pertinent to a disqualification, the information may also be shared with county attorneys, county sheriffs, courts, county agencies, local police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Attorney General, agencies with criminal information systems in other states, and juvenile courts. Background study results may be shared with the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Office of the Attorney General, non-licensed personal care provider organizations, and health-related licensing boards. If you have a disqualifying characteristic, the facility will be told only that you are disqualified and will not be told what caused your disqualification, unless you were disqualified for refusing to cooperate with the background study or for serious and/or recurring maltreatment of a minor or vulnerable adult. The information about you received as part of a background study is classified as private data and, except for the agencies noted, cannot be shared without your consent.