TO:             University Faculty and Staff

FROM:           Richard Brown

DATE:           February 8, 2002

SUBJECT:        Personnel Policy Revisions


Two University Personnel Policies have recently been revised. The revised
text of these policies may be accessed on the Internet at the sites
indicated below. Printed copies of these policy revisions may be obtained,
upon request, from Personnel Services. A brief explanation of each revision
follows. If you have questions regarding these changes, please contact Dan
Webb in Personnel Services ([log in to unmask]).

Policy 525, Disciplinary Actions

On page 1, 'personnel' officer has been changed to 'human resources'
officer. On page 2, a statement has been added to reflect that employees
terminated for gross misconduct are ineligible for State COBRA benefits. A
section on Pre-termination/suspension Meeting has been added covering the
procedure to be followed prior to suspending without pay or discharging
either a non-exempt employee for any reason, or an exempt employee for
gross misconduct. The Hearing Process section has been added and the
procedures modified to reflect a recent court decision supporting
non-exempt employees' rights to an informal or APA hearing through the
grievance process in instances of termination or suspension without pay.
http://admin.tennessee.edu/hr/policies/525pol.html

Policy 640, Grievances

All references to 'categories' of grievances have been removed to reflect
the above-mentioned court decision.
http://admin.tennessee.edu/hr/policies/640pol.html