Campus Support Staff Advisory Committee
CSSAC Bridge Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between the one personal holiday that C/S receives compared to the three personal business days available to A/P staff?
- Have hearing aids ever been considered to be covered by insurance?
- Why do C/S have the PERF Retirement Plan and not the TIAA retirement plan?
- Why are the C/S staff not paid the full amount of their sick leave when they retire or terminate from the University?
- Why does the accrual rate stop after a C/S employee has had 11 years of consecutive service?
- Why aren’t Veteran’s Day and President’s Day considered one of the paid holidays?
- Where can I go for help to report suspected fraud or other wrongdoings concerning confidential business matters?
- How can businesses be added to the employee discount program?
- What types of education will the CSSAC grants cover?
- What does CSSAC stand for?
Q. What is the difference between the one personal holiday that C/S receives compared to the three personal business days available to A/P staff?
A. The 3 personal business days for the faculty/AP are not the same as a personal holiday for C/S. They are granted only at the discretion of the department head – not an entitlement like the personal holiday. Sometime in 1965 (we believe), when CSSAC was meeting, the committee was successful in getting the administration to provide clerical and service employees with an 'extra' day off, perhaps so employees could celebrate their birthdays and not have to work, or have to use a day of vacation. This day became a flexible day off and became known as a personal holiday.
We don't know when this came about, but it was decided that since 10-month faculty did not accrue vacation, there may be times when it would be necessary for a faculty member to conduct business outside the normal working hours of 8:00-5:00. So someone (we don't know who) decided to provide three personal business days to 10-month faculty for purposes of conducting personal business such as legal matters, financial matters, or critical family responsibilities. Through the years, the interpretation of the use of these days became eroded, and somehow became part of the leaves available for all administrative, professional, and faculty members, regardless of working 10 months or 12 months.
Q. Have hearing aids ever been considered to be covered by insurance?
A. Purdue considered coverage of hearing aids a few years ago when we decided to cover cochlear implants. We looked at what other universities cover. Several do not cover hearing aids at all, like Purdue. If they do cover them, usually there is a limit (like $1000 maximum) over a period of 3-4 years that you can spend for hearing aids.
Q. Why do C/S have the PERF Retirement Plan and not the TIAA retirement plan?
A. The PERF retirement plan was created by the State of Indiana over 60 years ago and was intended to cover state employees as well as employees of state funded Universities who were not already covered by a pension plan. At the time PERF was created and offered at Purdue the only staff not covered by a pension plan were non-exempt (eligible for overtime) staff members.
Unfortunately, there are significant costs involved with moving positions from PERF to TIAA coverage. HR hopes to do a full review of the retirement plans within the next couple years and these types of issues should certainly be reviewed at that time.
Q. Why are the C/S staff not paid the full amount of their sick leave when they retire or terminate from the University?
A. The 25% of the 520 hours being paid out upon retirement (not termination) from the University was based upon the University hoping that an employee would accrue this amount (520 hours) and save it for being in a pay status to use while qualifying for long-term disability. This was prior to the University having a short-term disability plan. So, the hope was that the employee would save up the 520 hours to bridge the waiting period for LTD by staying in a pay status. Having a partial pay-out upon retirement, although 25%, was an incentive to save up the time, just in case it would be needed. And, if not needed, part of it would be paid out at retirement. As an additional incentive, if employees saved more than 520 hours, the policy stated we would pay 100% up to 1000 hours. The 1000 hours cap was removed several years ago (at CSSAC's suggestion in 1991, and approved by the Board of Trustees in November, 1991). Now, clerical and service staff can save as much sick leave as possible and they will be paid 25% for the first 520 hours and 100% for anything over that; so it's unlimited. (Of course, this was during a time when employees stayed their entire career with one employer).
Q. Why does the accrual rate stop after a C/S employee has had 11 years of consecutive service?
A. Somewhere along in time, probably in the 1960s, Purdue was THE market in the local area, for setting the lead in benefits to attract potential employees. It was decided to put a cap on the amount of vacation an employee could accrue after being here for 11+ years, and, pay out any unused vacation at time of termination (resignation); it was most likely the best practice at the time in the area, and the market leader.
Q. Why aren’t Veteran’s Day and President’s Day considered one of the paid holidays?
A. The University provides ten paid holidays per year in addition to a paid personal holiday for hourly staff. The personal holiday may be used at any time with the consent of the supervisor with the purpose of accommodating such things as religious observations or other holidays not observed by the University.
Q. Why is the “pool” system used for raises?
A. Each year the Board of Trustees approves salary increases based on State funding. Since there is no centralized university level coordination or implementation of the salary distribution, it is left to the department or organizational unit to distribute the increases as they deem appropriate. Many departments further leave the distribution to supervisor’s discretion. For example, if the Board approved a 2.5% increase, a supervisor could give one employee a 3.5% increase and another employee a 1% increase or no increase. Unfortunately this practice has lead to wide spreads in salaries across units for equivalent staff positions and fostered the perception of favoritism. CSSAC supports the Quality of Life in the Workplace Tiger Team recommendations in their White Paper of Feb. 2008 calling for a reduction of the salaries gap toward the best practices +/- 20% of the mean and link these salaries to consistent and universally applied annual performance reviews. In addition there should be a comprehensive review of staff job classifications to further structure skill levels with compensation.
Q. Why do employees pay for parking?
A. Parking Services is responsible for the administration of the Parking program at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. Back in the early 1960’s, Purdue administration determined that all users of parking facilities would pay to park during peak hours of use. Typically, this is 7a.m.-5 p.m. on campus, but some locations require payment for
longer hours, due to the prime location and/or high usage. While the parking operations budget (Salary and Wages and Supplies and Expenses) is around $500,000 per year, it costs over $4 million annually to cover the expenses (payments, maintenance, and repair) of the garages and parking lots. So, you can see that it’s very expensive to
maintain all of the parking garages and many lots, both paved and unpaved, on campus. Even with the recent increases in the parking permit rates, Parking Services must rely on additional funding to cover these expenses.
The Parking and Traffic Committee, which is made up of students, staff, administrators, and faculty, meets monthly to consider issues surrounding our paid parking program at Purdue. CSSAC has a representative on the committee. You can send any questions or concerns through the CSSAC representative.
Q. Would it be possible to have a sliding fee for parking permits?
A. Purdue’s old payroll system had no way to charge for parking on a sliding scale. The new payroll system does allow for payments based on income. The Parking and Traffic Committee (noted above) has formed a subcommittee to consider this issue during the spring semester.
Q. Where can I go for help to report suspected fraud or other wrongdoings concerning confidential business matters?
A. Questions or concerns can be addressed to Internal Audit Office – www.purdue.edu/hotline
Q. How can businesses be added to the employee discount program?
A. Send an email to the CSSAC Executive Committee with company name and contact information. A member of the committee will forward the information.
Q. What types of education will the CSSAC grant cover?
A. The CSSAC grants are applied toward classes at Purdue University, West Lafayette campus.
A. Campus Support Staff Advisory Committee