Agenda - 11-18-2008 - 6c - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 employee to the conference. This position is allowed to assist the employee in understanding information being provided by the department or in providing additional information for consideration. The human resources professional would not be the person who helped the supervisor or department in preparing for the disciplinary proceedings. • This would provide the employee with a trained human resources professional to assist them throughout the process including during the conference. • This would not have an additional cost outside of human resources or other County employee staff time. • This would limit the employee's choice to the specifically trained County personnel. 3. The Employee is permitted to select a person of his/her choice that will be allowed to advocate for the employee during the Pre-disciplinary conference. The person representing the employee may be an attorney. • The recommendation would provide the greatest level of advocacy for the support of the employee. • This may provide unequal treatment and unfair results for persons who could not afford attorneys. • An attorney's presence at pre-disciplinary conferences in cases of serious work performance deficiencies endangering the safety of persons or property may slow the process when resolving the issue may be in the best interest of all parties. • This would increase the County's costs because if the employee had an attorney, the County would also seek to be represented to provide legal support to the supervisor and the department head. Staff Recommendation The County must ensure all employees are treated fairly and have the opportunity to resolve issues at the lowest level possible. Staff recommends the Board continue the current system of not allowing a third presence or representation at pre-disciplinary conferences involving demotion, suspension or termination for the following reasons: • Third party representatives would create an inequity among employees within the personnel system applying to only 53% of Orange County employees; • The personnel system currently allows for third party representation if both parties agree. • Human Resource professionals are present in the process to ensure the system is followed and all parties are treated fairly; • Employees view the disciplinary system as fair (as evidenced by a recent employee survey); and • The presence of third parties and attorneys at the pre-disciplinary conference could make the process more adversarial and decrease the likelihood of the issue being resolved. . However, if the Board is not inclined to leave the current system in place, staff would recommend the Board select Model 2 above. Attached are proposed amendments to the Personnel Ordinance to accommodate each model. (See Attachment 2)