Buffalo HSC

Spring Membership Meeting is Monday April 18, 2011 at the Fairdale Banquet Center 672 Wherle Drive Amherst, NY 14225.  Doors open at 5:00.  There will be a buffet dinner with open bar.  Come to discuss what’s happening  in our  Union and our state.  As required by Albany, we will be voting on our budget for the upcoming year. The deadline has passed to RSVP, however we can still add some more to our count so please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to attend.  UUP HSC  office 829-2505 or buffalohsc@uupmail.org

As you know, the UB administration closed the campus on February 2nd in anticipation of a threatened storm that had all but paralyzed other states. Technically, the administration does not have the authority to close the campus. Only the governor can officially declare that the University at Buffalo is closed and only the governor can authorize employees to remain away from work without charging that leave to their accruals.  Nevertheless, based upon the forecast and with regard for employee and student safety, the administration decided to shut down the campus although there was no authorization from the governor’s office to do so. We should note that UB would not likely have been given such permission before the fact regardless of the weather because, frankly, prior authorization is never given.  According to state policy, an employee who misses work as the result of a change in scheduled operations, including class cancellations and closings, must either charge the day off to their accruals or take the day off without pay. Anyone who does not have sufficient leave accruals may borrow from future accruals.  

Please note that a faculty member whose classes are cancelled is not required to charge accruals, provided that he or she is meeting their professional obligation elsewhere (i.e., off campus).

In the past, the UB administration, having decided to close the campus, occasionally has made a request to Civil Service to “forgive the day.” This is a cumbersome process that a campus can go through after the fact.  If the request is successful, the days previously charged to accruals are returned to the employees. The last time the campus did this successfully was for time lost to the “October Surprise” storm in 2006.

UB has advised us that it will NOT request forgiveness of February 2 campus closing. UB does not believe that Civil Service will forgive the day given that no storm actually occurred.

UB has followed the required steps and will allow UUP members either to use accruals or take the day without pay.