About Staff Council
Frequently Asked Questions
General Employment
Pay
Leave
Other Benefits
Discounts
Tuition Remission
Parking
Miscellaneous
Are there grievance procedures for staff at Mercer?
Please visit the link below to file a formal grievance
- Employee Conduct/Grievance Procedures
- http://www.mercer.edu/humanresources/MU-Handbook.PDF
You may also contact any member of the human resource team to discuss your concerns privately. http://www2.mercer.edu/HR/Contact/default.htm
What is the dress code policy for staff?
There is no official University-wide dress code. It is department driven based on particular needs and expectations of the department, inconsultation with Human Resources and the General Counsel's Office. Please check with your supervisor for specific information on expectations in your area.
Where can I access information after I retire?
Retired employees may visit this brochure for more information regarding benefits after retirement: http://www.mercer.edu/payroll/RetireeBenefits.pdf
What are Mercer's goals concerning staff salaries?
The University Planning Council has outlined their vision for Mercer’s future. Goal #2 specifically sites salary compensation and is quoted below:
-- Improve faculty compensation to reach 100 percent of the average for faculties at designated peer institutions.
--
Improve staff compensation to reach 100 percent of the average for the appropriate market.
Can staff be paid bi-weekly instead of monthly?
(from Diane Baca after a discussion with Dr. Netherton) This question only comes up when we have new employees and has been answered and studied several times in the past. We have even performed a partial survey and it was overwhelmingly requested that we not change our monthly pay cycle. There is also a manpower issue as well as a financial impact to the University if this change was made. The police are paid on the biweekly payroll because they have a substantial amount of overtime involved in their duties. It is administratively easier to calculate overtime on a biweekly rather than a monthly basis. This system, like our county school system has been in place for longer than 32 years, and there is no expectation that this will change.
Where can I find a list of scheduled holidays for the University?
http://www.mercer.edu/payroll/HolidayPolicy.PDF
For all other days that you wish to spend away from work (President's Day, Veteran's Day, Wednesday before Thanksgiving, etc), you should request the time off with your supervisor and plan to use your accumulated leave time.
Are staff employees allowed to take breaks during the day? It seems that those who smoke are allowed to take breaks because they smoke. Also, are staff allowed to attend Mercer sponsored functions, such as the United Way closing program, Chapel, etc., without having to use their lunch hour or do they need to use their lunch hour for these events?
Staff employees have a 15 minute break in the morning and a 15 minute break in the afternoon. Since this is paid time, the break should be discussed with the supervisor about a good time based on the work flow. It may be that at times these breaks cannot be taken. A smoker gets the same amount of breaks as non-smokers – two a day. The programs you mention are University sponsored events and normally an employee should not be required to replace the time away with a lunch period. However, we all need to remember that work needs to be done. If the employee is out for these events on a consistent basis, some discussion regarding a fair balance should take place. Any absence from the work place for a University event or otherwise should be approved in advance by the supervisor. Thank you for contacting the Staff Council.
When staff attends Mercer sponsored functions, such as the United Way closing program, Chapel, etc., should they have to use their lunch hour for these events?
Response: For University sponsored events normally an employee should not be required to replace the time away with a lunch period. However, if the employee is out for these events on a consistent basis, some discussion regarding a fair balance should take place. Any absence from the work place for a University event or otherwise should be approved in advance by the supervisor
Why didn't staff council give us the day off? We usually get today off when we don't get raises and I haven't seen a raised paycheck so far this year. Nobody is doing any work today anyhow. Send us home.
Staff Council does not have the authority to give the staff a day off. The day before Thanksgiving has only been given once as an appreciation day from the President and the University. He gave us the day off in appreciation for all the work we had done that year, when the staff did not receive a raise. If you do not plan on doing any work on this day, then use your vacation time and go home. If you need something to do, contact your immediate supervisor and see what else your office needs completed.
Why can’t staff and faculty share sick and vacation leave with one another?
Paid time off holds a monetary value. One person’s vacation day (or sick day) will rarely equal the same liability as the other. In other words, if Mary surrenders a sick day at $20 per hour to John who makes only $15 per hour, where does the difference in value go? By the same token, would John only be able to donate a 75% day to Mary since the value is not the same? You may say let’s just call it an hour for an hour but that gets into other labor laws. And whose budget would cover this paid time; the donor or the recipient budget? There’s also the discrimination factor to consider...
Discrimination comes into play when Mary is well-liked so almost everyone would want to donate time to her extended illness if she ran out of leave. However, with John not being so well-liked, no one would want to ante up. Hence, standards for “fairness” would have to put in place for donating paid time off. As such, the very thing a flexible donation policy tries to sidestep comes back around again: a standard policy. Then there’s accountability.
Accountability. While today it may seem reasonable to donate a week to someone, tomorrow, you may be the one sick! Then what if no one wants to donate to you? You run out of sick pay that you personally earned through years of service, but yet, when you need it, it’s not available to you. And who would cover the work of the vacant position during all the extra sick time that has been donated? This could really cause hardship (and hard feelings). So is a paid time pool the answer? Read on.
Paid Time Pools. How about if everyone who wanted to participate could throw in paid time for a pool? What would be the standard then? At what point would someone have used their limit? If there is no limit, when does FMLA begin? If there is a limit, then why do we have a pool? What about when someone in the pool uses 200 hours and you find that you have never used the benefit of paid time sharing? Would you have no resentment for taking the gamble? In a pool, someone who’s been here for two years would have an equal advantage for paid time off to someone who’s been here for 20 years. That certainly doesn’t seem fair.
In order to maintain fairness for paid time off usage, provide a means of distributing equal benefit to all employees, and to accurately equate the value of paid time, clear standards would have to be set. At the end of the day, how would a “paid time pool” with set standards differ from an accrual leave policy? To be fair, in both cases, we would always have to go back to a particular individual’s “entitlement” which is why we have a leave policy based on an individual’s employment history.
Other Benefits
What benefits are available for part time employees?
Regular part-time employee who work at least half-time become retirement eligible. Health and dental insurance is not available due to the ERISA rules relative to our Health, Dental, and Life Insurance plans. ERISA was designed primarily to protect the benefits of the traditional full-time, single-employer worker. With respect to workers employed under more flexible work arrangements, such as part-time workers, phased retirees, workers who leave and reenter the workforce periodically for personal reasons, or workers who change employers often, ERISA’s protections are fewer. ERISA sets standards for plan participation and benefit requirements, imposes fiduciary responsibility on employers, and establishes rules for the enforcement of employee rights.
Does Mercer University offer / Will Mercer University ever offer child care?
Child care is on hold, awaiting a decision on a HUD grant that the City of Macon has applied for. If funded, a daycare facility would be built at Tindall Heights and implemented by Mercer and include children of Mercer faculty/staff/students.
In today's changing times where child and parent care obligations are becoming more and more of an issue, will Mercer University ever implement a "family-friendly" policy, i.e., Flextime?
From our perspective, we have a flex schedule in place. People often use their lunch period, or work before the normal work time and after to make up time away from the office for doctor’s appointments, etc. We also have a process in place that given a particular need, the employee can talk with a supervisor to amend their work schedule. It has to come to me if that is done for final approval. There are departments that could not implement a flex arrangement because of the nature of their customer base. Don’t forget too that we allow people to take classes and work around schedules for that. From my perspective it is all about talking with a supervisor to see what could be arranged for a period of time if there is a need for attending to aging parents or special needs children.
Would it be possible to allow up to 3 hours a week or even 2 hours a week of work time to attend wellness/exercise classes? I know the base and many companies do this.
Response from Cathy Smith: Most of us start out with two and half hours of free time in that our work week is 37.50 hours instead of 40. That allows us to hit the gym for thirty minutes every morning or evening and still devote the standard 40 hours per week to the workplace. How generous is that!
But assuming Mercer did want to allow this additional time off, how would these additional hours be monitored for fairness to all employees? How would a supervisor know that their employee was actually spending time exercising? Would the exercise only be allowed on campus in a Mercer facility…and those who prefer to exercise elsewhere or after hours just lose the benefit? Who would cover the work for the person taking an hour for exercise and an hour for lunch…another staff member who should also be able to enjoy this same benefit? What would constitute “exercise”…any physical activity? What about the people who could not find extra time to slip out during their workday...they just lose the benefit? What about the people who choose not to exercise…should they be penalized for their personal choices in life.
Are any Discounts available for Mercer Employee?
Steak and Shake-$1.00 off with Mercer ID-Deborah Gallmon
Moe’s-discount with Mercer ID-Stephen Brown
Shane’s BBQ-discount with Mercer ID-Stephen Brown
Arrows Exterminators-discount with Mercer ID-Erin Lones
Verizon Wireless-20% discount with Mercer ID-Darlene Murphy
Bear’s Den-Free Drink with use of the Bear Card
Raffield Tire-discount with Mercer ID-Stephanie McKleroy
Mercer Univ Press-40% book discount w/free ship-Barbara Keene
O’Charleys-Lunch discount with Mercer ID-Ken Boyer
http://bearcardoffice.com/BbOne/BearCard/Locations.htm
We are currently compiling a comprehensive list of discounts. If you know of a discount available to Mercer employees, please send it via our Communicator Form.
What meal plans are offered for faculty and staff?
a. Including the faculty/staff plans, we now have 4 tiers of pricing.
b. Door Rate-Anyone 8.00 + tax = 8.48 Lunch & Dinner
c. Staff/Faculty 7.25 + tax = 7.69 Lunch & Dinner
c. Staff/Faculty (Bear Bucks) 6.84 + tax = 7.25 Lunch & Dinner
e. Plan with Dining Dollars 6.30 meal
f. Plan with Meals Alone 6.18 meal
g. A staff/faculty member without Bear Bucks would save 18% with the dining dollar plan and 19% with the meals alone plan over the faculty door rate.
Why is the Business School closing it’s Night Program?
Fall 2010 is the last term SSBE will offer classes that support a BBA program through the Macon Center. Over the last 7 years, the number of students seeking the BBA evening degree through the Macon Center has been in decline. The average number of evening students per class section had fallen to about 4. This is not economically viable. In addition, few evening students remained enrolled long enough to complete a degree. Please remember that employees can still take classes during the day with supervisor approval.
Sufficient on-site parking is a great concern to me. We have numerous non-traditional students who attend evening classes in this building. It becomes a major struggle for them to find a parking space between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. (when most classes begin). Our parking area currently serves 5 buildings, and space is at a premium. We're not projecting a cooperative spirit with insufficient parking.
The Connell Student Center Lot is Zoned for Freshman students and it makes little sense because they have ample parking around their buildings. They do not need to park in this lot. The CSC lot should be available for staff (especially staff that work in the CSC & Penfield).
I would really love for Staff/Faculty to be able to park in Student Center Parking Lot or designate the lower portion near Penfield & the Bookstore. Staff/Faculty parking can also increase on the side streets located behind MEP & Plunkett. Also could Staff/Faculty be given a different color decal that says: Staff or Faculty?
I would like to see if the University would consider changing the Connell Student parking lot from blue decals (Freshmen students) to green decals (employees). The employess of this building have a hard time finding somewhere to park. Freshmen students have several lots around their residence hall for parking that would be just as convenient. Most of them rarely move their cars during the week anyway. Even if they could make it green or blue decals would be more convenient for the many employees who work in Connell Student Center. Thanks for your help.
There is sufficient parking on campus, maybe not convenient parking. A study was conducted several years ago taking into consideration the number of faculty, staff and students and the color zone system was implemented. The green decal is for faculty, staff and outside commuters. Mercer continues to find ways to attract and retain its students and many decisions are made to accomplish this. Please remember it is student enrollment that keeps us all employed. Also, it is an opportunity in the morning and afternoon for all of us to get in our walking for a healthy lifestyle.
Why didn't staff council distribute the homecoming game tickets fairly? My coworker went and waited in line for 2 hours while she should have been working and received 2 tickets. I covered her hoping that I could go when she returned, but they were out of tickets. Yesterday she sold those two STAFF tickets for $100. That is completely unfair. She basically received paid time off of work and a $100 bonus, while I got nothing. Not even basketball tickets. Things like this are what make staff unhappy in their jobs. Staff council should work with athletics to ensure that tickets are distributed fairly like a drawing or something. I want to see something come out BEFORE HOMECOMING from the president himself about staff making money off of free tickets.
A staff council representative met with Dr. Swindle and Mr. Underwood. Mr. Underwood stated that, the current ticket distribution system is under review and some minor changes are forthcoming.
I have a question that was not answered here. What should I do?
Submit your question using our Communicator Form. We will answer your question as soon as possible.
Mercer University
| Human Resources | Staff Council Home
Send questions or comments to the
Staff
Council.