In the event of emergency situations, such as severe weather conditions or pandemic flu, the University may suspend normal operations and classes. If normal activities are suspended, all employees whose positions are designated as essential and/or critical must report to campus (or remain on campus) or to another designated area to assess the University’s operations, protect its assets and provide critical services to the University community.
It is the responsibility of the University to ensure that all conditions in the buildings and on campus grounds are safe and other required services performed by University employees are available when there is a weather or other emergency condition. Essential and/or Critical Employees are generally defined as those whose duties and responsibilities are considered mandatory for carrying out operational or life-safety services for the University including the continued mission-critical functioning of academic, enrollment management and scholarly research activities.
Department chairs and managers, in collaboration with their divisional Vice President, are responsible for designating the essential employees for their particular unit. Essential employees will fall within two categories. An employee may be designated essential or critical in one or both categories.
Service Level 1 Essential Employee (Relates to Inclement Weather and Other Emergency Conditions)
The Division of Administration - Office of the Associate Vice President for Administrative Services will distribute stickers and maintain a database of essential and critical employees by division and department. A call letter requesting updates will be sent to a representative from each division annually in September. The divisional representative will facilitate the process for his or her division. Each department will maintain its departmental list of essential and critical employees in each service level including employee name and contact information. The Office of the Associate Vice President for Administrative Services will notify employees of their mandatory essential and/or critical employee status via a formal memorandum annually in October. The essential and/or critical employee's supervisor and Human Resources will receive a copy of the notification memorandum.
Only extenuating circumstances of a most serious nature will warrant the exemption of an essential and/or critical employee from the requirement to report to duty in a timely manner. Each situation will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by Human Resources to determine appropriate action.
