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The Fringe Benefits Committee of the Staff Advisory Council had a very productive year. Subcommittees on Staff Retirement and Short Term Disability met and gathered information to support proposals for improvements in the staff benefits package. The year was made quite successful by our continuing conversations with Earl McLane, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, and Hossein Sadid, Vice President and Controller during our committee meetings.
Subcommittee on Retirement:
The Subcommittee on Staff Retirement, chaired by Barbara Brennan, spent much of the year gathering information on retirement plans from competitive employers and comparison universities and evaluating a review of our staff retirement plan provided by a retirement consultant. The committee issued a report and a resolution as a result of their discussions. The Staff Advisory Council passed the resolution at the April 5, 2001, meeting and it was forwarded to the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, Rhonda Gross, for response. The committee feels that a need for improvement to the staff retirement plan was identified and changes were necessary "to enhance or maintain our competitiveness as an employer and to help insure a financially secure retirement for staff who have made careers of service to CWRU." As of July 1, 2001, several improvements were made to the Staff Retirement Plans B and C. The committee will continue discussion in the upcoming year.
Subcommittee on Short Term Disability:
The Subcommittee on Short-Term Disability, co-chaired by Judith Richardson and Deborah Tenenbaum, was busy reviewing the disability policies of our competitive employers and comparison universities in the past year. The discussion arose because of the lack of income protection for new employees who face a catastrophic illness or injury. Long-term disability insurance is part of the current benefits package for staff; however, the salary protection is not available until six months after the onset of illness or injury. An employee of the university would need to work for ten years to accumulate adequate income protection days to cover the gap. The committee issued a report and a resolution of support for addition of short-term disability insurance to the staff benefits package. The Staff Advisory Council passed the resolution at the April 5, 2001, meeting and it was forwarded to the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, Rhonda Gross, for response. The resolution states "the SAC resolves that all CWRU staff have access to STD coverage as a CWRU benefit to demonstrate justice and compassion to any employee who incurs a disability." University administration plans are to implement a Short Term Disability insurance policy for Staff in January 2002.
The Year Ahead:
The Fringe Benefits Committee is looking forward to another year bringing forward issues of concern to staff. We welcome the input of staff members regarding issues that concern them and are hoping to have the opportunity to meet with our constituents directly in the upcoming months. Several new topics have been brought to the committee for review: Adoption Leave, Retiree Health Coverage, and prescription insurance coverage for birth control pills.
As a committee, we would encourage the university to take a leadership position on the structure of the benefits package in a competitive marketplace. We genuinely hope that CWRU will achieve national acclaim as a center of academic excellence and additionally as one of the best places to work in the nation.
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