February 26, 2001 
Directors of Human Resources To: 
Joyce Villa From: 
Employee Relations Update Subject: 
Topics covered: Workforce Champion Awards 
Employee Relations Website 
Parking Fees 
Clinical Practice Arbitration 
Workforce Champion Awards 
This is to advise you that the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations 
has announced the availability of the Workforce Champions Awards for 2001. 
We are asking you to publicize the availability of the program widely 
throughout your campus. The award is made competitively to recognize the 
accomplishments of employee teams from all the State agencies. 
Applications and nominations are being accepted through May 15, 2001. 
An explanatory brochure and application forms are attached for your use. 
Additional nomination forms can be obtained by visiting the GOER website or by 
calling (518) 474-5871. In the first year of the program, a SUNY team from 
Binghamton University, which included our own Sylvia Hall, was honored at 
receptions in Albany and at the campus. 
Employee Relations Launches Website 
The System Office of Employee Relations has launched its website 
effective February 23, 2001 at www.suny.edu/er/. The purpose of the site is to 
inform campuses of the many services offered by the Office, acquaint them with 
the staff and their areas of expertise, share substantive information on areas of 
interest to campus users and enable users to connect to other helpful websites. A 
key feature of the site is its linkage to all campuses (currently 26 out of 30, with 3 
more in development) who have on-line vacancy announcements. This site, as 
well as 7 of the campus websites, was developed with small grants from funds 
made available by the State/UUP labor/management Committee on Employment.
The Employee Relations site was developed with the able assistance of Alex 
DeMarco, System Administrator, who worked closely with the Office to create an 
informative, interactive site. The site needed to balance a desire to share 
information while at the same time keeping on-going maintenance to a 
manageable level. We welcome your comments for improvements on the site. 
Contact Lynne Scheilding at scheilla@sysadm.suny.edu, or 518 443-5684. 
Parking Fees 
Arbitrator Joel Douglas has just rendered a decision regarding parking fees 
at the University at Binghamton. In rejecting the campus’ proposed fee of 
$144.47 per year in favor of the union’s proposal that no fee be charged, the 
arbitrator cited several factors that influenced him. 
First, he noted that only three other SUNY campuses, all located in urban 
settings, charged a compulsory parking fee, and no other campuses were currently 
engaged in negotiations to assess a fee. He discounted the relevance of fees 
charged by private colleges in New York. While he found that UUP-represented 
employees could afford to pay a parking fee, he expressly rejected the argument 
that all other members of the Binghamton University community paid parking 
fees and, as a highly compensated group, UUP members should be expected to 
pay a commensurate fee. He noted substantial construction on the campus and the 
campus’ apparent financial health. He concluded that the economic crisis of the 
early 1990’s, which lead to the demand to negotiate fees, had apparently passed. 
Ultimately, the arbitrator rejected Binghamton’s argument that the cost of parking 
should be borne by employees, and found that the University had adequate 
resources to make this unnecessary. 
If followed by subsequent arbitrators, this award can pose a significant 
barrier to the successful imposition of parking fees at other campuses. If you 
are considering interposing a demand to negotiate parking fees pursuant to 
Article 38 of the State/UUP Agreement, please contact the SUNY System 
Office of Employee Relations at the earliest stage, so that we may discuss 
approaches. For copies of the full opinion, contact Lynne Scheilding at 
scheilla@sysadm.suny.edu, or 518 443-5684. 
Clinical Practice Arbitration 
In an award that reaffirms the proposition that arbitrators are not 
empowered to render medical judgements, the termination of a physician faculty 
member was recently upheld. Relying heavily on a document negotiated between 
the University, the UUP and GOER, the arbitrator found that the parties intended 
that the University not be liable for actions of affiliate hospitals and the doctor’s 
practice groups.
In this case, a physician received part of his compensation from an area 
hospital, part of his compensation from a clinical corporation of which he and the 
members of the department were members, and part of his compensation from 
SUNY. The physician was notified of this by his initial appointment and 
subsequent reappointment letters. He was assigned to the trauma unit at the local 
hospital, but despite this assignment, the physician went skiing at nearby ski area. 
This was discovered when he fell, breaking his leg, and had to be checked into the 
emergency room at the hospital. Both the hospital and the practice corporation 
immediately terminated the grievant’s services given his conduct in his absenting 
himself, putting patients at risk. The University, instead of terminating him 
immediately, provided him with a year’s notice pursuant to the collective 
bargaining agreement and continued to pay him the University’s portion of his 
compensation. The physician filed a grievance contending that the state was 
liable for the portions of his salary that had been paid by the hospital and by the 
practice corporation. The arbitrator found that the University had acted properly 
and was responsible only for its portion of the compensation package. 
Attachment 
c: Chancellor King 
Mr. Miller 
Presidents, State-operated Campuses 
Business Officers