Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Personnel to discuss grievances

At last night's Council meeting, during the Committee Reports... Personnel Committee Chairman, Matt Altieri, said that my question about compiling a report on employee grievances by department for the past five years would be addressed at a Personnel Committee meeting later this month:Regarding the "however briefly" comment... it does make me wonder if there'll be much of a discussion. But then... I just want to see a report of numbers of grievances... I don't wish to see any names... so I'm not sure why there's even a meeting. Maybe there's a problem with employee morale and grievances are being filed more often than usual? I don't know. That's why I asked.

As for why it's taking a month and a half to compile this report, I'm at a loss. I figured that the Personnel Director could compile the report pretty easily. And since I presume that a Personnel Director would have little to do with the just-completed-budget... this report should've been done a while ago... I would think. But then I don't know the responsibilities of the Personnel Director... which by the way... did anyone else catch the comment last night by the Finance Director about how she has only one HR person? And since it's not the Personnel Director... what gives? Seems odd that an HR person wouldn't report to the Personnel Director. But again... I don't even know what responsibilities are given to the Personnel Director... well... except for being "Assistant Town Manager." And don't even get me started on that title... that deserves its own post.

Anyway, I am glad that other people seem to agree with me that my request is reasonable. From the WRA to the cartoon in this week's Herald, I think it's fair and necessary for the Council to maintain a basic grasp on employee morale. And whether or not the Council agrees with me... at least other people seem to believe it's a reasonable request.

And finally, I thank Matt Altieri for following up on this.

Tim White

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's baseball season. I'm sure he is busy. Ha ha.

Anonymous said...

Most companies have the least amount of people doing HR and payroll work even though it's complicated and full of legal issues. If that person quits all hell breaks loose. Usually nobody is cross-trained etc. Vaction and sickness is a nighmare. People always have to be paid and deadlines met. Tough thankless job. Mistakes can't be made.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Murphy is leaving for greener pastures. Wishing her the best.

Anonymous said...

8:03 You're right... HR (bene's and payroll) are tough because there are so many laws / reg's / internal policies... of which you must be aware... so many little things. It's as if you ought to be a lawyer to even do the job.

Anonymous said...

10:38 I agree. I like Lisa. She was always helpful to me whenever I had a question.

Anonymous said...

Zullo explained that the “Dress Down Fridays” was scheduled to be every other week on payday, but the practice evolved into every Friday. He further elaborated that the business casual “Dress Down” day somehow developed into employees wearing sweatpants and Hawaiian shirts, with other exempt employees participating as well, so the police chief stopped the policy.- cheshire herald 5/1
Lou Zullo failed to mention that the grievance was filed due to the abolishment being retaliatory by the Chief. Lou Zullo is the problem. Has anyone else noticed that the TM has ruled on behalf of management/not the employee in EVERY case. Also why arent these questions being answered by the public information official???