Koski is one of the few certified American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteers in the country. She’s also a clinical therapist with the Corrections Department at Moose Lake....
A 1994 state law allows state employees to take up to 15 days a year with pay to provide Red Cross disaster services. Koski has provided her services after hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, among other natural disasters.
She’s now involved in counseling returning veterans and their families through Red Cross workshops. When she sought approval from her bosses to use a portion of the 15-day allotment for a workshop, the department said no; counseling veterans does not qualify as disaster relief.
Full Story: Star Tribune
This will be interesting to follow. I've had to argue with our employer over the definition of Emergency in our contract. One time the HCSO was drafting two people to fill some ADAM program overtime. They objected, arguing that it wasn't an emergency and couldn't be drafted. The employer responded with, "Anytime there's a slot on the schedule to fill it's an emergency." Traditionally the employer won't define these terms in a contract, which gives them great latitude to apply them.
Something to keep in mind with our Night Shift Differential grievance.
No comments:
Post a Comment