MTAS Mustard for weeks ended 5-17, 24 and 31 - 19

 


Good Afternoon MTAS,

It has been too long since I “Mustarded” with you. I hope you are doing well. I’ll try to be concise in bringing you up to speed on things happening at MTAS, but this will be longer than usual.

I’m going to start with a celebration of birthdays and anniversaries; I have some catching up to do. Happy birthday to Steve W. (5/17), Al, (5/18), and Cyndy (5/28). We also had three work anniversaries that I’d like to recognize: Ronnie celebrated a few years on the 11^th, Ralph hit one of those round numbers on May 17, and Wes celebrated the one year mark on May 21. For all who marked milestones, personally and professionally, I am happy for you and hope you are looking forward to a fabulous year ahead. A mayor I used to work with always said “I’m above ground; it’s a good day.” I adopted that saying and philosophy and share it with you so you may choose to do so as well. It’s a good day!

MTAS supports interns. We have for years, and this summer is no exception. Please welcome Malia Belue to the MTAS family. She is working mostly in Goodlettsville, but the Nashville folks may see her in the office one day a week. Being a former MTAS intern myself, I am a supporter of the program. We all have to start somewhere on the career ladder, and I can’t think of any place better than MTAS to start! MTAS has seven interns working with cities this summer; and here are the six others, with the cities where they will be working:

Graham Alexander (Lexington)
Sam Mellon (Kingsport/Upper East Economic Development Agency)
Chris Phalen (Kingsport/Upper East Economic Development Agency)
Adedayo Aribisala (Bristol)
Alex Moore (Greeneville)
Austin Petroski (Bartlett)

I have three reminders for you. The first is the sick leave bank - the enrollment period continues through June 30. I am member of the bank, and while I have a healthy sick leave balance and no planned need to use the benefit, I am certainly glad it is there if I ever need it. I encourage you to take advantage of this UT benefit. Here is a little more information, and a link to the application:

To be eligible, you must be a regular UT employee accruing sick leave, with a sick leave balance of at least 48 hours or six days (prorated for regular part-time employees) by June 30. Employees meeting these requirements who wish to join the bank must complete an open enrollment application and agree to donate 24 hours of sick leave to the bank. The annual deadline for membership is June 30.

Sick Leave Bank Enrollment Application

For more information, visit Policy HR0382 on the Sick Leave Bank or contact Human Resources at 865-974-6642.

The second reminder is about the Title VI training that you should complete by June 30. You’ll register through K@te. For the many of you who have already done this – THANK YOU! For the others, if you need more information, here you go - courtesy of Scott Gordy:

All University of Tennessee faculty and staff are required to complete Title VI training. Beginning Thursday April 25, 2019, you will be able to access the training in K@te at
https://kate.tennessee.edu/.

Once there, click on the button that says UT Faculty and Staff and use your Net ID and Password to log into K@te. After logging into K@te you can find the training on your transcript.

What is Title VI?
Approximately 30 federal agencies provide Federal financial assistance (FFA) in the form of funds, training, and technical assistance to state and local governments, and nonprofit and private organizations.

Purpose
The purpose of the required and mandatory Title VI training course is to ensure all University employees, contractors, sub-recipients, and service recipients are aware of their rights and responsibilities under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Federal and state regulations require agencies such as UT to provide Title VI training for faculty and staff to ensure effective enforcement and to develop awareness and sensitivity in carrying out federally funded programs.

Title VI Compliance Program
Individuals who wish to file a complaint of Title VI discrimination can do so within 180 days of the date of the discriminatory act. Complaints are not required to be on a particular form, but they must be in writing and signed.

Training Deadline
The training must be completed by June 30, 2019. The training takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

If you have any questions or difficulty accessing the Title VI in K@te feel free to reach out to me or send an email to
AskKate@tennessee.edu.

The third reminder is the deadline of June 19 to submit nominations of your peers for awards given at the IPS annual conference. Let’s make sure that MTAS has a chance to be well represented at the awards ceremony. Please take some time to recognize the great work your peers are doing for our customers (including internal customers). Here is the link to the nominations:
https://utk.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?tt=O3szh4hCacg%3D

This next bit of information is important – Please do not pass over this! There have been changes to state policy regarding worker’s compensation and automobile liability. There are financial penalties to MTAS if you do not report incidents. Here is more information regarding these changes:

1. Workers’ Compensation – Non-life threatening injuries must be reported timely to the Corvel 24/7 nurse triage line (866-245-8588) before seeking medical attention. Failure to do this will result in the employee’s department being fined $500 per claim by the State of Tennessee. Should an employee or employer not report a workplace injury within 3 business days after sustaining the injury, their department will also be fined $500 per claim by the State of Tennessee.
2. Automobile Liability — Automobile accidents involving vehicle damage or bodily injuries to a third party must be reported to State’s Automobile Accident Call Center (855-253-0629) within twenty-four hours after the accident occurs. Failing to do this will result in the employee’s department being fined $1,000 for each accident by the State of Tennessee.
Just for clarification, reporting vehicular accidents applies even if you are in your own vehicle. Questions related to these changes should be directed to the System Risk Management Office at
riskmanagement@tennessee.edu.

Okay, this is probably enough for a Wednesday afternoon so I’ll stop here. I hope you know how much I appreciate you taking the time to read the Mustard, for the work that you do, and the difference that you make in others’ lives. I am so fortunate to be able to work with you. I hope the remainder of your week is pleasant and productive.

Sincerely,
Margaret