Laurie Charest, director of UNC's human resources department, said her department would like to be exempted from the State Personnel Act because the State Personnel Commission imposes job requirements that restrict UNC's ability to fill staff positions. "All of our job positions each have a classification, and each of those classifications has requirements that are strict," Charest said. "The state doesn't always recognize the specifications needed for a University position."
Last spring, UNC employee Bobbie Sanders filed a lawsuit against the University on the grounds of sex and age discrimination. Judge Sammie Chess ruled in favor of Sanders, but the decision was overturned by the SPC last month. Charest said UNC still would like to remove its employees from SPC oversight, despite the ruling.
But Ashley Osment, one of Sanders' attorneys, said employees are easy targets for acts of discrimination by employers without the protection of the SPC. She said the risk occurs because it is too expensive and time-consuming to file a lawsuit without assistance from the commission.
"Exempt employers have general statements against discrimination, but those statements mean nothing," Osment said. "The flexibility this offers means you're basically throwing employees to the wolves."
Charest said a bill to remove University employees from the State Personnel Act was introduced in the legislature this year but did not pass.
She said a committee of legislators was formed to study the issue and report to the General Assembly during its 2003 session, when the bill will be reconsidered.
Charest said she hopes a bill will pass because it would allow the University to attract more quality applicants away from private universities, the employees of which are exempt from SPC regulation. "There's a lot of interest to pass the bill in the name of competitiveness and the ability to attract and retain quality personnel," Charest said. "This is a very competitive labor market."
The legislature passed a similar bill in 1998 exempting UNC Health Care employees from state personnel regulations.
But Osment said such legislation still places non-state employees at an advantage over state employees because state employees are subject to a N.C. law limiting the power labor unions.
