Employee Records and Employment References
College policy is to disclose only a verification of employment for past and current employees. All inquiries for verification of employment should be directed to the Human Resources department.
Pay Polices
Each position is designated in a particular category of the College budget. Every effort is made to be fair and impartial in salary decisions. The College’s policy is to consider such things as education, experience, productivity, merit, and market data in computing an individual’s compensation.
Funds for your compensation comes from the regular College budget or the College grants budget. The College budget is prepared annually and, after approval by the Board of Trustees, becomes effective for the fiscal year starting each July1. Pay increases are typically done on an annual basis effective October 1
All employees will receive their pay on the last business day of each month through automatic deposit to their bank account. You will not be permitted to receive your pay in advance of the regular pay date. At times you will be requested to estimate the number of hours you will work through the end of a pay period. Estimated hours at the end of one month will be adjusted to actual the next payroll.
The College recognizes, however, that emergency needs do arise. Allowances for emergency advances against wages, not to exceed $500, for basic needs such as housing, food, clothing and medical care can be arranged by contacting the Payroll office. The College may charge an interest rate on advances that are paid back over time. The College will not routinely fund repeated requests for advances.
Deductions
Withholdings required by law will be deducted from your regular check. Other deductions may include insurance, donations, savings plan and others.
Recording Time - Non-Exempt, Hourly Employees
Non-exempt or hourly employees are those employees who are not exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its provisions regarding wages and hours. Hourly employees must personally clock in and out, using the Kronos Timekeeping system. Clocked in or out hours that result in overtime pay must have prior supervisor approval. Employees should use the time keeping method (either time clock or computer) as directed by their supervisor/manager. Employees are responsible for clocking in and out for themselves. Employees who clock in and out for another employee(s) will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
The Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that you record all your time when you are on the job and that you be compensated for that time. To be clear about this, you must punch in and out whenever you are working for the College. If you arrive early to work and your supervisor requests that you perform a task, you must be paid for that work. If your supervisor requests that you take work home, you must be paid for the time spent working at home for the College. To also delineate the time that you are clearly not at work, College policy requires that you not eat lunch at your desk.
Recording Time - Exempt, Salaried Employees
Exempt employees are those employees in salaried, administrative positions and they are exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Salaried employees must report all time off on a regular basis. Time-off includes vacation time, sick leave, floating holidays, and unpaid time. Time off requests are done through the Kronos time keeping system.
Transfers
You will be subject to transfer to another position at any time either on a temporary or permanent basis as the College deems necessary or advisable.
Hours of Work
Crete Campus:
Doane College continually strives to meet the needs of our students. Normal business hours for all offices are Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. during the school year (beginning the second Monday in August through the Friday prior to commencement in May.) Flexible schedules within the hours of operation are necessary, based on the needs of the department. Full-time employees are typically scheduled to work 8 ½ hour days with an unpaid thirty minute lunch break. Some employees will work 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; some 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; some 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m; hours will be determined based on needs of department. Some employees are assigned to work weekends. Summer standard hours commencing the day following graduation through the first Friday in August are Monday-Thursday 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Some employees will have different hours depending upon the needs of their job. Custodial and maintenance employees generally work 7:00 a.m. until noon and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The work hours that will be normal for you will be outlined by your employment letter or your supervisor.
Lincoln and Grand Island Campus:
Normal business hours are Monday - Thursday 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and Friday 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Non-exempt employees will receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek. The normal workweek for College employees is Monday through Sunday. Workweeks may be adjusted for specific groups of employees to serve the needs of that workgroup. Vacation time, sick leave, and holiday pay is not considered work time for purposes of calculating overtime. Rather, overtime is calculated based on actual hours worked. Notwithstanding the above, there may be instances like graduation or homecoming weekends when the College pays all employees time and one-half pay for special hours worked to reward employees in preparing for these special events or special call-in situations. Overtime work must be authorized in advance by your supervisor and/or the Vice President for Finance.
With supervisor approval non-exempt employees may take comp time in lieu of overtime if the employee works hours that would otherwise result in overtime provided there are workdays remaining in the workweek. For example, an employee scheduled to work 8 hours per day Monday through Friday who worked 10 hours on Wednesday could take comp time of two hours on either Thursday or Friday. To ensure compliance with wage and hour laws, an employee who has overtime at the end of the week will be paid overtime for that workweek and may not take the overtime as comp time in any subsequent workweek.
The compensation for overtime is overtime pay. Fringe benefits do not accrue on overtime compensation.
The College reserves the right to change hours, days of employment and workweek as needed to serve our students. Flexible work schedules may be arranged within departments with supervisor approval as long as student service and workflow are not interrupted.
Job Classification
Full-time: Doane College considers employees who are scheduled to work 40 hours or more per week, 12 months per year a full-time regular employee.
Full-time/10 month: Doane College considers employees who are scheduled to work 40 hours or more per week, 10 months per year a full-time 10-month employee.
Part-time: Doane College considers employees who are scheduled to work 39 or fewer hours per week, 12 months per year a part-time regular employee.
Part-time/10 month: Doane College considers employees who are scheduled to work 39 or fewer hours per week, 10 months per year a part-time 10-month employee.
Temporary/Seasonal: Doane College considers employees who are hired for a specific period of time or until a defined event occurs on a temporary basis a temporary or seasonal employee.
Conflict of Interest
Doane College (“College”) is an institution whose trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff are chosen to serve the purposes to which the College is dedicated. These persons have a duty to conduct the affairs of the College in a manner consistent with such purposes and not to advance their personal interests. This conflict of interest policy is intended to permit the College and its Board of Trustees (“Board”) to identify, evaluate, and address any real, potential, or apparent conflicts of interest that might, in fact or in appearance, call into question their duty of undivided loyalty to the College.
1. Covered Individuals
This policy applies to the College’s trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff (each of whom shall be a “Covered Individual”). Each Covered Individual shall be required to acknowledge, not less than annually, that he or she has read and is in compliance with this policy on the Pledge of Personal Commitment form. This form shall be available for public consideration.
2. Covered Transactions
This policy applies to transactions between the College and a Covered Individual, or between the College and another party with which a Covered Individual has a significant relationship, or between another party and the Covered Individual if the transaction could reasonably be expected to impact the College (“Covered Transaction”).
A Covered Individual is considered to have a significant relationship with another party if:
- the other party is a member of the Covered Individual’s family, including a spouse, parent, sibling, child, stepchild, grandparent, grandchild, in- law or domestic partner;
- the other party is an entity in which the Covered Individual has a material financial interest. This shall include any entity in which the Covered Individual and all individuals or entities having significant relationships with the Covered Individual own, in the aggregate, more than 10 percent; or
- the Covered Individual is an officer, director, trustee or partner of the other party.
A Covered Transaction shall also include any transaction in which there may be an actual or perceived conflict of interest, including any transaction in which the interests of a Covered Individual may be seen as competing with the interests of the College.
3. Disclosure, Refrain from Influence, and Recusal
When a Covered Individual becomes aware of a proposed Covered Transaction, he or she shall have a duty to take the following actions:
- refrain from using his or her personal influence to encourage the College to enter into the Covered Transaction;
- excuse him or herself from any discussions regarding the Covered Transaction except to answer questions, including Board discussions and decisions on the subject;
- in the event that the Covered Individual is a Board member, immediately disclose the existence and circumstances of such Covered Transaction to the College’s Board Chair in writing; and
- in the case the Covered Individual is not a Board member, immediately disclose the existence and circumstances of such Covered Transaction to the College President in writing.
In order to assist the College in identifying potential Covered Transactions, each Covered Individual annually shall complete a Conflict of Interest Questionnaire provided by the College and shall update such Questionnaire as necessary to reflect changes during the course of the year. Questionnaires completed by Covered Individuals who are Board members or the President of the Board shall be submitted to the Board Chair. Questionnaires completed by all other Covered Individuals shall be submitted to the College’s President who shall be responsible for their custody. All completed Questionnaires shall be available for inspection by any Board member and may be reviewed by the College’s legal counsel.
4. Standard for Approval of Covered Transactions
The College may enter into a Covered Transaction where a) such Transaction does not constitute an act of self dealing and b) the Board determines, acting without the participation or influence of the Covered Individual, that such transaction is fair and reasonable to the College. The Board shall document the basis for this determination in the minutes of the meeting at which the Covered Transaction is considered and may consult with and rely on the College’s legal counsel as necessary to ensure that the Transaction does not constitute an act of self dealing.
5. Administration of Policy
This policy shall be administered by the Governance and Nominations Committee of the Board, which shall be responsible for:
- reviewing reports regarding the Conflict of Interest Questionnaires;
- receiving disclosures of proposed Covered Transactions;
- reviewing proposed Covered Transactions to determine whether they meet the above-described standard;
- maintaining such documentation as may be necessary and appropriate to document its review of Covered Transactions; and
- reviewing the operation of this policy and making changes from time to time as it may deem appropriate.
Outside Employment
Part-time or temporary employment outside the College is acceptable as long as it does not interfere with your position at the college or is it a conflict of interest. Refer to the “Conflict of Interest” policy for further information.
Attendance
Being absent or tardy places an unfair burden on your fellow workers who must do your work during your absence. Continued absence and tardiness, for insufficient reasons, will limit your chances for advancement and may result in dismissal.
If you will be delayed in arriving on time, or if you will not be present because of illness or other unavoidable cause, notify your supervisor early so your work will not be delayed.
If you are absent for three consecutive work days, without contact to the College or to your supervisor, the College will consider you to have voluntarily resigned your position.
Promotion and Transfer
The college encourages employees to apply for positions within the college that they are interested in and they feel they are qualified for. The College will attempt to notify the campus of available vacancies when they occur. If you are interested in applying for a position within the college, follow the application process listed on each individual job posting. Your qualifications, past performance, and capacity to assume the responsibilities of the open position will be evaluated when you are being considered for either a promotion or a transfer.
Performance Improvement Policy
Certain standards of performance and conduct must be maintained in any team. Generally these standards are recognized and observed by individual members of the team without any need for action by a supervisor. However, correcting unsatisfactory performance is a vital function of management.
Except in cases of serious misconduct, the following procedures should be followed when dealing with performance or behavior issues. The steps are designed to encourage employees to succeed and to correct the employee’s conduct and work performance. Supervisors should assume that all employees want to be productive. The first step is verbal counseling the employee regarding the unsatisfactory performance. In most cases, no further action will be required. If, however, the unsatisfactory performance has not been corrected, the employee should receive a written reminder emphasizing the importance of the situation, describing the deficiency, specifying the time to correct the deficiency, and describing the consequences of failing to correct the deficiency, including possible loss of pay or discharge. If the deficiency has still not been corrected, a final warning should be given with continued unsatisfactory behavior resulting in formal discipline including, without limitation, loss of pay or discharge. Ultimately, the immediate supervisor, along with consultation with the vice president in charge of their department and the Human Resources department, will determine the appropriate discipline based upon the circumstances in each case.
In cases involving dereliction of duty or serious misconduct, you may be suspended without prior notice, pending review. In such cases, your salary may be terminated immediately. The College may also terminate the employment relationship without following any particular series of steps whenever it determines, at its own discretion, that such action should occur.
Grievance Procedures
Any staff member has the right to present any personal concern or dissatisfaction regarding his/her employment to the College and have the matter considered on its merits. Such matters may be handled formally or informally. Employees are encouraged to attempt to first resolve workplace issues informally through communication with the persons involved and to involve their supervisors in the process. Most issues will not need further attention. Employees are also encouraged to make suggestions to improve the workplace or to direct questions regarding the workplace either directly to their supervisor or to the Human Resources department.
If the matter is not resolved through such informal procedures or an employee believes that informal procedures are inadequate to address the conduct involved, employees may file a written grievance with the Vice President for Finance. Fair and prompt consideration shall be given to employee grievances. Grievances should be made within five (5) days after the occurrence of the event claimed to have given rise to the grievance. The Vice President for Finance or a person appointed by the Vice President for Finance will investigate the circumstances giving rise to the grievance. Any person accused of misconduct will have an opportunity to provide a written statement describing the circumstances involved. Where appropriate, the Vice President for Finance may attempt to mediate a solution satisfactory to all parties involved.
If the matter cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved, the Vice President for Finance will make a written report describing the circumstances, his or her findings with respect to the grievance, and the discipline to be imposed, if any. The report will be provided to the person making the grievance and any person accused of misconduct.
All grievances shall be confidential except as necessary to fairly investigate the grievance. Employees can be assured that no negative consequences will result as a consequence of making a grievance. All employees involved in the investigation of a grievance shall keep the matter confidential and failure to keep the matter confidential shall subject the offending employee to disciplinary action. Any employee taking retaliatory action against any employee who has filed a grievance shall also be subject to disciplinary action
Appeals from Grievances
Any person accused of misconduct as well as the person making the grievance may appeal the decision of the Vice President for Finance to the President. This appeal shall be in writing within 48 hours after the Vice President for Finance has communicated his findings to the individual. The President will promptly review the appeal and respond in writing. Any discipline imposed by the Vice President for Finance shall remain in force during the pendency of the appeal unless rescinded in writing by the President. The decision of the President with respect to the appeal shall be final.
Job Performance Evaluations
Supervisors are responsible for evaluating the employees who work under their supervision on a continuous basis. The style and content of the reviews will be tailored to the particular requirements of each job; reviews are typically done on an annual basis.
Employment at Will
All employees are at will employees. This means that employees may resign at any time and the College may terminate their employment at any time with or without notice for any or no reason. Nothing in this Handbook alters an employee’s “at will” status. An employee may also be discharged for cause at any time. Examples of conduct which will normally result in discharge include, without limitation, the failure to follow written procedures which may endanger the safety of the employee, students or other employees, frequent lateness, insubordination, theft, unexcused or excessive absenteeism, abuse to students, submission of an intentionally incorrect timecard, falsification of application for employment or breach of any policy contained herein.
Resignations
If you wish to resign from your position with the college the college asks that you file a written resignation at least 14 calendar days prior to your departure date. The written resignation must be filed with your department head and the Human Resources department and state the effective date of the resignation. Giving less than 14 days notice may result in future ineligibility for rehire; however at times employees may not be able to give the full 14 day notice and reasons for giving less notice will be considered in making the decision regarding rehire eligibility.
In the event of your resignation, you should contact the Payroll Office to discuss your status with regard to insurance. If you are a participant in the college’s health insurance you will be eligible to participate in COBRA, Your final paycheck will be available the last working day of the month or within two weeks from your last day.
Unauthorized absence from work for a period of three working days in succession is considered a voluntary resignation.
Policy on Rest Periods
You will be allowed rest periods or breaks of 15 minutes each per half-day worked (must work the four hour period), provided such interruption in the work does not interfere with the performance or efficiency of your department. At times your supervisor may request that you do not take a break during a heavy or emergency period.
The rest period is intended to be a recess to be preceded and followed by an extended work period. Consequently, a rest period may not be used to cover your late arrival or early departure or to extend a lunch period.
You will not be permitted to forego breaks to accumulate extra time off in the future.
Worker’s Compensation and Work-Related Injuries
The college values safety and supporting a safe work environment. If you are injured while on the job, you are covered under the College Worker’s Compensation Insurance for medical and hospital expenses and payment of time lost from work for an extended disability, as provided under the Nebraska Worker’s Compensation Law.
If you are injured on the job, first seek medical treatment, if required then report all accidents to your supervisor and to the Human Resources department. An accident report is available in on the Doane College web site at: http://www.doane.edu/About_Doane/Offices/human-resources/forms/ or in the Human Resources department. Accident reports must be filed with the Human Resources department promptly. Failure to do so may result in loss of benefits. The College will investigate all worker’s compensation claims.
Dress Code
Our employees represent the face of the College to our students, alumnus and the community. Our dress attire should reflect a professionally operated academic enterprise. Employees should dress in a clean, neat and modest fashion. The exact parameters of this policy will vary from department to department and may vary depending upon the function of the position you are in; please visit with your supervisor about the dress appropriate for your department and position.
Uniforms
The College pays annually the cost of uniforms for employees of the Facilities Operations Department, up to an amount determined by the Vice President for Finance. Uniforms are not a condition of employment, but an appropriate symbol of professionalism and identification. Facilities Operations employees are expected to wear their uniforms when working and keep the uniforms clean and in good condition.
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