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Arkansas Mayor Sued by Former City Employee

vassallo — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:42:01 +0000

Bryant, Arkansas mayor Jill Dabbs has been sued by the city’s former human resources director, Shayne King. King has been silent for the past year regarding her firing from city hall but has decided to tell her side of the story now. Dabbs has called the majority of King’s claims false even though King says we should let the court decide if they are false or not.

Randy Coger, a resident of Bryant, has shown support for Dabbs.

“She’s morally correct, she’s got a ton of patience, she’s a humble lady,” Coger said. Coger also said that Dabbs has helped to cut some of the fat in city hall during her tenure.

“She can’t sneeze without them blowing it out of proportion,” Coger said.

King filed a lawsuit against Dabbs, who fired King in January of 2011, that asks for $333,000 in damages. The lawsuit was also filed against the city of Bryant.

“She has been very vocal on several occasions about why she did not reappoint me, and unfortunately those things do not match,” King said.

The lawsuit filed against Dabbs and the city claims wrongful discharge and claims that the discharge occurred after King had a discussion with Dabbs about her salary. The lawsuit also claims that King was terminated after King did not meet a deadline of three days to have a background check performed for the interim police chief. Dabbs wanted the interim police chief in place by the time she took office.

“I feel like I made an extra effort between the election date and the beginning of the year to provide as much information as I could,” King said.

King claims that the effort included working during vacation time to prepare items for Dabbs’ first day on the job. The lawsuit filed also claims that Dabbs made slanderous comments about King in the media.

“I feel like it hampered my ability to find work,” King said.

King has found a new job but still wonders why she lost her old one that she held for more than 12 years with Bryant.

“My evaluations were all above average for each year that I was there,” King said.

Supporters of the mayor feel that this lawsuit is simply another attack on the mayor.

“They are just playing games, just trying to make the mayor look bad,” Coger said.

Dabbs has told various media outlets in the Bryant area that the conversation between her and King about her salary never occurred. Dabbs also said that King met the deadline for the background check on the interim police chief so she does not understand where that accusation comes from in the lawsuit.

The only thing Dabbs has said about the firing of King is that King “wasn’t a good fit for her administration.”

Napa Hires Top Candidate for City Position

vassallo — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:41:11 +0000

The Napa civil service system operated for nine months without having a permanent head but the city now has hired a permanent person for the job. Beginning on February 13, Nicole Bilich will become the city’s personnel director and civil service manager. She will oversee the civil service system that Napa voters created back in the 1960s. The former director, Veronica Hodge, resigned from the position resigned back in September after serving just five months in the position.

Hodge said that some reasons for her departure were problems with the human resources department for the city, which was created in the fall of 2010. Hodge claims that the new department superseded her duties and repeatedly violated the civil service system. She said this made it impossible to do her job to the best of her ability.

The chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Bill Jabin, said that the commission hopes Bilich will fit in well with the city but did say that time will tell.

“She has an extensive background in (human resources) and personnel,” Jabin said. “It seems like she’s going to get along well with everybody.”

Close to 25 people applied for the open position, with the top seven candidates interviewed by a committee that included city and county staff and a community member. The Civil Service Commission then interviewed the top three candidates for the job.

The commission was never told how the top three candidates were ranked by the interview committee. But, after the hire, the commission found out that the committee ranked Bilich as its top choice. Bilich works in Sacramento in the human resources industry. She said that she is excited to bring positive change to Napa while updating policies and processes.

Beginning in 2005, Bilich worked in human resources and the department of information technology for the city of Sacramento. She was promoted to run the city’s department of utilities in 2010. At that time she worked on a merger with one of the department’s divisions with another department within the city.

“I think (Bilich) has the skill set that will make her a good fit for this city,” said Paul Hicks, vice chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

The human resources director for Napa, Karyn Ezell, said that she had not met Bilich yet but was hopeful that she will perform well with the city and the position. Ezell said that Dave Falk, the interim personnel director, has been working for the past couple of months to define the director position.

“(Falk) took a lot of time to carefully define what the job entails and what is necessary for success,” Ezell said. “We’re really hopeful this is a good fit.”

Niagara Falls Has Four Top Ranking City Positions Vacant

vassallo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:38:53 +0000

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster’s efforts to find the best and the brightest to fill the highest positions within the city through nationwide searches have failed multiple times.

There are four vacant positions within the city; community development director, fire chief, human resource director and NFC Development Corporation director. Dyster recently said that the city does not have any cash to conduct another national search.

“Which is good. I’m glad to hear that,” Council Chairman Sam Fruscione said. “I think we should promote from within.”

There is a long list of city employees hired by the mayor from out of town that did not work out at all. That list includes Fire Chief Roger Melchior from Florida. He was fired because he made inappropriate comments on a website and then lied about doing so. Another bad hire was Peter Kay from Ohio. Kay was fired after not making any progress as the city’s economic development director. From California, Ali Marzban was fired because he was an unlicensed city engineer.

“The only person that is of high quality, who was found in the nationwide search, is (Corporate Council) Craig Johnson from Tonawanda,” Fruscione said. “Otherwise, there’s nobody on the ship. It’s a disappointment. (Dyster’s) most successful employees are the ones that live in the city of Niagara Falls and work in the city of Niagara Falls. They should be given the first opportunity for advancement,” Fruscione said.

Fruscione also described Dyster as the following:

“This guy moves so slow that we continually have vacancies. It hampers progress for the city,” Fruscione said.

“The bottom line is it could be a smoother transition if they were to promote from within. What’s the point of working for the city for twenty years if you’re never going to get promoted?”

Fruscione said that Clara Dunn and Tom Tedesco should have the chance to climb the ladder in NFC because they are both qualified for the position and both are residents of Niagara Falls.

Fruscione said, “They said they are going to interview the applicants and make appointments.”

Bob Anderson, a city councilman, said, “The council doesn’t do the hiring. Dyster should be open with what we’re trying to do. It’s behind closed doors. We can’t put a gun to their heads and force them to hire people. We’re not privy to the (application and hiring process). How are you going to replace that knowledge? They’re going to try to circumvent it with dollars. Sad. Scary.”

City councilman Glenn Choolokian said, “The sad part is that the council has no part in it. We have qualified people right in the departments themselves. They should be promoted from within.”

“In Human Resources, you have a qualified person with over 25 years of experience filling the position. That person could be hired. In Community Development, same thing: There are qualified people with a lot of years in. They should be looking right there. In Economic Development’s NFC, you have two employees there who have been there for years. Both of those are well respected in the community, they should not be looking any further than those. For fire chief, the Niagara Falls Fire Department is probably one of the best in Western New York. There are so many qualified people already in the department. Nobody knows the city or the Fire Department like the workers in the Fire Department. There are so many guys that should be promoted. No out-of-towners. The council is definitely for promoting from within,” Choolokian said.

Abilene Women Find Employers Treat Pregnancies with Support

vassallo — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:02:54 +0000

Pregnancy-based discrimination was outlawed back in 1978 by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Prior to the enactment of the law, employers would fire women employees who became pregnant or force them to take unpaid leave, according to the National Partnership for Woman & Families.

Malcolm Coco, a professor of human resource management at Abilene Christian University, said that the majority of companies are working to accommodate women in the final months of their pregnancy nowadays. Coco said that should a doctor recommend that a woman not perform any heavy lifting will now be followed by companies.

“Most companies would be very agreeable to making those accommodations,” Coco said.

Abilene treats pregnancy similar to any other medical condition.

“We just would treat it as a qualifying medical situation and work with the employee to determine if there are any needs or limitations associated with the pregnancy,” said Ronnie Kidd, the city’s managing director for administration.

The National Partnership for Woman & Families’ director for workplace fairness, Sarah Crawford, said that the current law is very clear when it comes to the treatment of pregnant workers.

“To the extent that employers provide light duty to similarly based workers, then that similar light duty should be offered to pregnant workers,” Crawford said.

Still, there are pregnant workers who complain about being treated unfairly. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the fiscal year 2011 received 5,797 complaints claiming pregnancy discrimination.

“It’s a lot beyond just firing a worker who is pregnant. Discrimination can take a more hidden form. A lot of women are not hired, particularly when they are noticeably pregnant,” Crawford said.

Crawford also said that some employers that are considering a new hire “make assumptions about a worker who is pregnant and whether she will be a good worker or whether she may have a need for leave, which may or may not be the case. One thing that probably needs to change is the perception that pregnancy will always limit a woman’s ability to do her job.”

An assistant professor of education at Hardin-Simmons University, Emily Dean, said that she did not encounter any problems with her employer while maintaining her regularly assigned teaching requirements. She described her supervisor as “really understanding for doctors’ appointments and those kinds of situations.”

Dean’s son Hayes was born five weeks early last year but that did not cause any problems with her employer even though she was unable to proctor final exams.

“I think if you’re in a more male dominated profession, it may not be as easy to navigate that situation,” Dean said.

The president of the local chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, Judy Glossup, claims that pregnant employees tend to work well into their pregnancies.

“Most of them worked pretty much as close to their due date as they can, and then most of them come back to work around six weeks after the birth,” Glossup said.

Lawsuit Alleging Racial Discrimination and Retaliation

vassallo — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:50:45 +0000

A lawsuit has recently been made against the Sam Houston State University, claiming that the university is guilty of both racial discrimination and retaliation. The lawsuit was filed within the United States Court in the Southern District of Teas in the middle of January.

An African American woman, Angel Lamb is suing the university stating that they denied her of a raise or a promotion simply because she is African American. She believes that her race played a major role in the reason why she was never promoted and never received a raise. The former interim direct of the Human Resource department, David White, took his position within the HR department in the beginning of 2009. According to the lawsuit, this is when the racial discrimination first started. Lamb says that she even worked right under the HR Associate Director, Cynthia Bennett.

In the lawsuit, Lamb says, “After White’s promotion, White and Bennett targeted three black HR employees in an effort to get them to quit and ‘cleanse’ the HR department.” Lamb is currently working as an associate within this department and has been employed with the university for two decades.

In the lawsuit, Lamb claims that she often received reviews for her performance at her place of work until White received his promotions. She says after she received her promotion, she received a poor review of her job performance. This took place in February of 2009. The lawsuit says, “This poor review caused her to be denied for a raise, which the white employees at her level received.”

The lawsuit also states that this situation occurred once again in June of 2008 but that every single person received a raise aside from the black (African American) employees. Aside from filing racial discrimination against the university, she also claims that she received retaliation for making complaints about the problem to the supervisor.

In April of 2010, she filed a grievance about not receiving a promotion. After doing so, she received a warning from Bennett. The lawsuit states,”[Lamb] allegedly internally identified the name of a newly hired employee, although there is no known policy regarding this issue.” It also states, “This warning has since been used to further subjugate Lamb and ‘keep her in her place.’ The warning was held over Lamb’s head and she was frequently reminded that, ‘there is consideration of suspension without pay and it is currently under review.’”

Lamb is also suing for damages and the costs that have to do with the lawsuit, including lawyer fees. The university refused to comment and lawyers were not available for comment on the lawsuit either. When officials were asked, they were unaware of the current lawsuit that was taking place and could not comment.

HR Projects Moving Forward

vassallo — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:50:13 +0000

The University of Wisconsin has being making an effort to overtake the human resources system and is currently going through the second phase of the process, which will take place next week since legislations has given the University of Wisconsin the authority to set up their very own HR system which will operate outside of the actual state government.

The Director of Human Resources for the University of Wisconsin, Bob Lavigna, has said that the project is currently in its early stages and many different teams are working on it together, trying to make some beneficial recommendations on different aspects of human resources. Lavigna says, “It’s a great opportunity for us to develop a personnel system that will meet the unique means for our university.” He also says, “In the past, we’ve been governed to a large extent by state government HR. Now, we can tailor the system to our needs and challenges.”

Lavigna claims that the project leaders have set up 11 different work teams that will be focusing predominantly on all different aspects of HR, which includes benefits and compensation, along with the development of employees in the workplace. Seven of the eleven teems are already working and the remaining four will start working together in the coming week. The teams will be working on developing different recommendations for the personnel system of the University of Wisconsin.

The academic personnel office director, Steve Lund, says that the teams are composed of academic staff members along with a number of other faculty members and employees within the University. Lund says, “I can’t predict specifically how the university’s HR system will look at the end of this.” He also says, “I can say that it will be more efficient, effective and have the flexibility to meet the changing needs of the university.”

The project is only at its beginning stages but many project leaders are excited for creating the new personnel system which will be beneficial to the university as a whole. Lavigna says, “We’re very excited.” He continued by saying, “I think it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to put together a human resources system that will meet our unique and specific needs.”

Lavigna says that when the different teams come up with recommendations, those recommendations will be sent to the advisory committee of this particular project and then the recommendations will be taken into consideration to be added to the personnel system for the university.

A joint statement, which was released by a number of individuals on the HR Project, stated, “We are considering this ambitious project in the context of ongoing financial challenges.” It also stated, “All of this uncertainty means that the scope of the project will continue to be developed and refined over several months.”

Stoughton Town Manager Resigns

vassallo — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:28:48 +0000

The Stoughton town manager, Francis T. Crimmins Jr., left a judgeship in order to take the job as town manager. When he did so it came at a time when the residents of the town were looking to have the Police Department cleaned up because of recent scandals that wracked the town and harmed its reputation.

Crimmins resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday of this week after being appointed back in 2010. He helped see multiple key positions in the town filled during his brief, two-year stint, that helped to set the town on a new path.

One of the hires was for a new police chief, who started the same month as Crimmins. A new fire chief was hired along with a building commissioner, a treasurer-collector a town planner and a director of assessing.

“I’ve seen all the good he’s done with the restructuring, fixing problems and making things work better,” police Lt. Robert Devine, the department spokesman, said about Crimmins.

“I think it’s a loss for the town,” said Devine.

The majority of the town’s officials said that they were surprised when Crimmins announced his abrupt resignation. Selectmen Vice Chairwoman Cynthia Walsh said,

“I just felt he was growing frustrated with the position.”

Walsh saw the resignation letter from Crimmins, which was two sentences long, and said that it did not provide a reason as to why Crimmins was resigning. All it said was that he was “exercising the option in his contract.”

Crimmins is leaving the post as of March 31, according to Selectmen Chairman John Stagnone. Stagnone was not on the board when Crimmins was appointed to his position. Stagnone did say that Crimmins did an excellent job while in the position.

“His letter did not specify any reasons for his resignation. Today was the first I knew of anything,” Stagnone said.

“Frank has come in and put in place a lot of new procedures and has done a great job of enforcing them. He’s done a great job of organizing and reorganizing town hall,” said Stagnone. “We had a lot of retirements and he was instrumental in bringing some talented professionals to fill positions. We wish him luck in his new endeavors and thank him for his service.”

Devine went on to say that he was ‘disappointed’ to hear of the resignation by Crimmins because “he’s done a lot of good for the town.”

“I was surprised when I heard the news. I hadn’t heard anything about it before today,” he said.

Holly Boykin, the Finance Committee Chairwoman, also expressed shock at the news saying,

“I did think he was doing a good job,” she said. “He brought a lot of information to the town, he brought a lot of ideas forward.”

Trouble with ADP Hinted at in Leaked Augusta Memo

vassallo — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:27:52 +0000

The city of Augusta is preparing to outsource its human resources functions to a company called Automatic Data Processing. Before the outsourcing takes place, an internal memo has been leaked to the public that shows problems with the city’s existing relationship with the outsourcing company it has hired.

City Administrator Fred Russell said that the release of the memo could also signal trouble for the person who leaked it to the media. Deputy Administrator Bill Shanahan authored the memo, which is a formal list of issues brought by city employees, including staff from the human resource department. The issues listed in the memo include existing and foreseen problems between the city, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and ADP. ADP began overseeing the payment and eligibility of benefits last year.

One of the main issues raised in the memo is that ADP has caused employees or their family members to be dropped inadvertently from insurance coverage. This complaint has been filed multiple times by employees of the city within the past year.

“We have had cancellation in every vendor group; without explanation,” the memo says. “The only common denominator is ADP.”

Other issues in the memo include problems employees of Augusta are having when using ADP’s service. According to the memo, a phone tree must be dumbed down because some employees are confused by it.

Shanahan said that the memo is pretty much the notes he took during ongoing discussions with ADP while also saying that quite a few problems have been fixed.

“Some were their fault; some were our fault,” he said.

There has not been a price or contract set with ADP yet but Russell says the implementation costs for the city would hit $1.3 million. Russell said the memo is, “an ill-conceived document that never should have seen the light of day.”

“I have no idea how it got out,” said Human Resources Manager Robby Burns.

When Rod Powell retired in August, the department has not had a permanent head since. Since that time, several employees have been fired or have retired over the past couple of months as well.

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Bowles, who is a proponent of outsourcing human resources and a customer of ADP, said that the company has encountered problems in seeking information from city employees when developing a proposal.

“I’m sure a lot of people are trying to sabotage that process,” Bowles said, including “some of our upper-level management that believe in bigger government.”

Satisfaction scores fall, workers planning to quit increase: 4 reasons

HRCrossing — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:08:45 +0000

Nearly one in three of workers is considering leaving his or her job, according to a recent Mercer Study of 2,400 U.S. workers. That is a sharp increase from the 23% that said they’d leave their jobs in 2005. Younger employees- 40% of those age 25 to 34 intend to quit. Men-34% of men intend to leave their employers v. 30% of women.

Read the full article here:

Satisfaction scores fall, workers planning to quit increase: 4 reasons

Siemens Plans on Hiring Hundreds of Veterans

vassallo — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:07:43 +0000

The Siemens Company recently made an announcement which stated that the company will commit to hiring at least 300 veterans during 2012. This announcement was first made by the CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Judy Marks, who was excited to make the announcement about the commitment to hire hundreds of veterans.

Mike Panigel, the Senior Vice President of Human Resource for the Siemens Corporation, has said, “Siemens is in the enviable position of being at the forefront of job growth in this country and we have our choice of the best talent out there.” He also says, “We are extremely proud of our work with Joining Forces and this additional commitment reflects the fact that the technical training and advanced skills sets that veterans bring to the workforce are a perfect match for Siemens. Having these brave and talented men and women join our team will make our company stronger for years to come.”

The Secretary of the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki, is very excited that Siemens will be hiring at least 300 more veterans. He says, “Veterans make great leaders and great employees.” He concluded by saying, “So congratulations to Siemens for more than doubling your pledge to hire veterans, and military family members this past year. And thank you for your commitment today to hire an additional 300 veterans in the coming months.”

Siemens first participate in the launch of Joining Forces in April of 2011. Joining Forces is an initiative of the White House which was designed to honor those who have served for our country. With the initiative in place, companies can pledge to hire veterans as a means of helping these individuals, who fought hard for the country, find the employment that they have been seeking for such a long time. Siemens pledged to open 3,000 positions within the company for veterans and actually exceeded the set goal within three short months. In 2011 alone, the company hired nearly 650 veterans.

The veterans are typically hired for a number of different positions within the Siemens Company. Such positions include Energy, Industry and Healthcare sectors, Field Engineers, Sales, Marketing, and much more. Many of these jobs have competitive salaries as well.

Aside from hiring these veterans in a time where the economy is still working on a recovery after such a crippling recession, Siemens is also helping veterans transition from military life back to civilian life so that they will have a better time with their new job. Siemens has been providing training for these veterans and has even created the Siemens Veterans Network, which consists of over 400 members who support veterans. The company provides tons of support to veterans who have recently been hired and to the veterans who are looking for employment.