Modernizing City Employee Work Rules
- City officials extensively discussed reforming Austin's personnel policies, including the "at-will" employment status for most staff.
- Major concerns raised included outdated, inconsistent, and unclear policies, slow grievance procedures, and uneven disciplinary actions across departments.
- The goal of the discussion was to create a more supportive work environment, promote quality service, and develop better processes for handling employee issues with input from staff.
- This meeting was an informational session and briefing; no final decisions or votes were taken on any policy changes.
Full Transcript
AUSTI FOLKDI... Austin City Council MINUTES SPECIAL CALLED MEETING - January 22, 1992 TOWN LAKE CENTER - 1:30 Ρ.Μ. In the absence of Mayor Todd and Mayor Pro Tem Urdy, Councilmember Nofziger called to order the special called meeting of the Council. Councilmember Nofziger announced the purpose of the meeting was to hold an Executive Session and Worksession on Personnel Policies. EXECUTIVE SESSION Councilmember Nofziger announced Council would enter into Executive Session, pursuant to Article 6252-17, Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated to receive advice from Legal Counsel, to discuss natters of land acquisition, litigation and for personnel matters. No final action, decision or vote by the City Council will be taken on any subject or matter. Advice from Counsil - 2. Personnel Policies RECESS Section 2, Paragraph e Council recessed for Executive Session from 1:45 to 2:19 Ρ.Μ. VORKSESSION 1. Briefing on Personnel Policies. : Byron Marshall, First Assistant City Manager, introduced the discussion on Personnel Policies. He discussed the "At Will" employment which is the present status of all employees, except Fire and Police beyond the statutory probationary period, vs Right to Con Mr. Marshall pointed out that there is a challenge in managing the new workforce because the world is changing. Mr. Marshall stated that we must creat supportive work environments and promote quality service. The concerns with the current policies are: Some segments of our policies are outdated and inconsistent; Some segments are unclear, several interpretations possible; Grievance procedure takes too long before a final decision is made; Inconsistent procedures in departments; Potential for inconsistent punishment for the same infraction. Joe Canales, Director, Human Resource Department, illustrated, by MINUTES 1 1/22/92 use of slides, improvements to be made in the City's Personnel Policies. Ms. Sage White, Assistant City Attorney, discussed the Effect of Employee Status. Ms. White, Acting City Attorney Granger and City Manager Barnett all answered questions from Council. The Council lost its quorum at 2:55 P.M. when Councilmembers Garcia and Epstein left the meeting. Discussion continued with Mr. Canales' summary to develop and use process we know on problems which exist, get employee input and then get process everyone agrees on to include in the problem solving process. Discussion ended at 2:55 Ρ.Μ. : ! MINUTES 2 1/22/92