Classified School Employees Week
CSEW is just a few short weeks away, and your Chapter Events Committee is planning another week of something warm, something tasty, something funny, and something social. Mark these dates and locations on your calendar. Times and events coming soon!
Monday May 20 — Rose Garden (if I can’t have it, something within me dies!)
Tuesday May 21 — Building 9C (Food, glorious food!)
Wednesday May 22 — 9C Patio Area (brrrrr!)
Thursday May 23 — Putting Green (Guess what that will be!)
Friday May 24 — 9C Stage (if you guess what this is correctly, I will yell BINGO!)
Whatever the events will be, you know you’re going to have fun, eat, chat, and even make some new friends. It is all part ofcelebrating classified professionals like you who make important contributions to the educational community and help improve the lives of our students.
There might even be a few sur-prizes!
Selection Committee Representatives Still Needed
Mt. SAC’s most important asset is its employees, because without exceptional administrators and managers, faculty, and classified professionals, Mt. SAC might as well be a parking lot. Exceptional employees ensure Mt. SAC lives up to its mission of providing quality education to the community it serves. You were not hired just to fill a vacancy. You were hired because you are an extraordinary worker doing essential work. To continue hiring exceptional employees, however, Mt. SAC and CSEA Chapter 262 need your help.
CSEA 262 needs you to volunteer as a CSEA representative for selection committees. To serve as a CSEA 262 representative, you must first, of course, be a Chapter member. If you are not a member and would like to join, visit our Chapter 262 web site and join today. You also cannot be an employee in the same department that is recruiting the new employee. The college is committed to diversity and equity, so your participation helps the college meet these goals.
Please consider volunteering for a selection committee when you see the announcements.
EEOC Reports Retaliation Most Common Complaint in 2018
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that retaliation complaints accounted for more than half of all EEO complaints for both federal and state employers. For the fiscal year ending 2018, 51.6 percent of all federal and 50.3 percent of all California EEO complaints were about retaliation.
Most people think retaliation is about one person, typically a supervisor, “getting back” at another subordinate employee. According to the EEOC, retaliation occurs when an employer punishes “employees for asserting their rights to be free from employment discrimination including harassment. Asserting these EEO rights is called ‘protected activity.’” Examples of “protected activity” include:
filing or being a witness in an EEO charge, complaint, investigation, or lawsuit
communicating with a supervisor or manager about employment discrimination, including harassment
answering questions during an employer investigation of alleged harassment
refusing to follow orders that would result in discrimination
resisting sexual advances, or intervening to protect others
requesting accommodation of a disability or for a religious practice
asking managers or co-workers about salary information to uncover potentially discriminatory wages
Often an EEO complaint will include several EEO violations, so the number of individual complaints exceeds the number of filings. One complaint filed might have three or more violations. This is shown in the chart below, which shows the percentage of charges of each EEO type.
In 2018, there were 90,588 charges of discrimination (down 19.5% from prior year) and more than $500 million awarded to victims of workplace discrimination. Nationally, retaliation accounted for 51.6% of all discrimination charges. In California it was just a hair more than half at 50.3 percent.
However, California complaints were down 20% in 2018. The EEOC also concluded the #MeToo movement contributed to an increase in sexual harassment and retaliation claims during 2018. Disability and race discrimination exceeded sexual harassment claims in California. Follow this link for more information about litigation and enforcement statistics by state for the past ten years.
Discrimination and retaliation are not union issues. If you believe you have been or are being discriminated or retaliated against, you should immediately make a confidential report using the Human Resources discrimination complaint form. The process is strictly confidential. Of course, you may always contact your Chief Steward or any member of the Chapter Executive Board for advice.
The Thing of it Is . . .
How many e-mail messages do you get a day? Probably dozens. How many of those messages are “announcement” messages about activities and events for students? When you see these, do you just click the “delete” button and be done with them? If you are like many people, you probably do just that.
The thing of it is students, for whom these messages are intended, never see these announcements. This is true. Students are not included in the college’s campus-wide e-mail list, so they never see these messages. Perhaps some faculty may forward them to students in their class if the announcement is relevant or someone may print the message and post it to a board students can see, but that is rather rare. So this begs the question, why? Why are announcements meant for students sent to a list students do not see? That is a really good question! Perhaps the answer is that we do not know how else to reach the students.
The best way for these messages to be seen by students is to post them to the Mt. SAC portal (http://inside.mtsac.edu). Send your request and the pertinent information to the Information Technology Help Desk (helpdesk@mtsac.edu). If the announcement is an event, the Mt. SAC web-based calendar of events is another good way students can get this information. There is also the corner marquee on Temple and Grand and the numerous electronic signs found across the campus. Of course, there is also various web pages where the information can get to students.
If you want more information about how to better reach students with your messages, contact the Marketing Department at 909.274.4121 or visit the Marketing Department’s web page. Follow this link for more information about posting information and communicating to students.
CSEA Announcements
Classified School Employees Week Dodger Game
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 7:10 pm
Dodger Game Promotion • $1 Dodger Dogs!
Tickets $20.00 each • See attached flyer
“To improve the lives of our members, students, and community.”
CSEA Chapter 262 • 1100 N. Grand Avenue Walnut, California 91789 • 909.274.6262 • www.csea262.org