OS Council discusses finalization of Family Friendly Leave proposal
 
By Ken Gagnon, Media Relations

The OS Council held its monthly meeting March 8, discussing finalization of the Family Friendly Leave proposal and the possible restructuring of district assignments in the university.

One of the first topics on the council's agenda was the possible restructuring of district assignments within the university. Members of the OS Council represent different sections of the staff within the university according to where on campus they work; these sections of staff members are separated into 16 different districts. However, Council Chair Stephanie Higgs said some improvement can potentially be made to the organizational scheme currently used to separate the campus.

"Right now it's kind of confusing," Higgs said. "For example, Charlene (Hill, District 1 representative and member of Dining Services) has the Wildcatessen, Stillings, and Holloway Commons, but she doesn't have Philbrook within her district. We're thinking of maybe putting all of dining services into one group and looking into another representative to help out with such a large group."

The proposed changes to district assignments generally are centered on trying to make district assignments for the OS Council representatives simpler; efforts would be made to group members of the same department into the same districts, as opposed to only relying upon the geography of campus to separate staff members.

The council also discussed plans to take final steps towards implementation of the Family Friendly Leave proposal that has been under discussion for quite some time now. Higgs assured the rest of the council members that the proposal was in the exact form that the council had already agreed upon.

"This version still allows for up to 10 days of sick pool time to be used for family-related illness, with no five-day waiting period, and with an allowance for bereavement time, as well," Higgs said.

The OS Council expects to send the final proposed version of the Family Friend Leave proposal out to each representative's constituents within the next few weeks to receive feedback. Staff members can view the proposal online: http://www.unh.edu/os-council/index.html.