Superior committee eliminates employee appeals

SUPERIOR — Superior is considering changes to its disciplinary action policy in the wake of a public appeal of a letter of reprimand prompted by the city’s former clerk, Camila Ramos.

The Superior Human Resources Committee adopted a change Monday, April 17, that eliminates an employee’s right to appeal a written reprimand before the committee. Policy handbook changes do not require approval from the city council.

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However, the committee will recommend the council change the ordinance that would allow for such appeals. The proposal will go before the council at its May 2 meeting.

The policy preserved contract language from when most city employees were represented by unions, said Cammi Janigo, human resources director. When the contracts went away, she said most of the rights and privileges of those contracts were preserved in city policy.

Appeals of letters of reprimand would normally be held in closed session unless the employee requests a public hearing.

“I did do a survey of other Wisconsin cities and counties and was very surprised to find out how many cities do not have that option for employees,” Janigo said. “The option they do provide is for employees to file a written statement to be filed with the written reprimand. That’s already in our policy.”

No changes were made that would prevent an employee from preparing their own written statement in response to the written reprimand to be placed in their personnel file.

The committee also approved updates to the city’s anti-harassment, sexual harassment and workplace environment policies to include digital platforms and media and provide examples of inappropriate conduct.

Janigo said the changes also include additional ways to file complaints that have come into existence since the policies were last updated.

“As the committee knows, we’ve been working on these policies for months, in and outside of committee,” said Councilor Jenny Van Sickle. “We’re updating a lot of language around digital platforms, social media and capture that zeitgeist in our handbooks … Many of these haven’t been updated in quite some time.”