Employee forum raises questions on sexual harassment, education school audit

UNC housekeepers are reporting sexual harassment by managerial staff, the chairwoman of the Employee Forum said in a meeting Tuesday.

It was one of two issues that dominated discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, the other being an audit of the School of Education.

Jackie Overton, chairwoman of the forum, said housekeepers revealed four main complaints in meetings with Chancellor Holden Thorp: retaliation, poor management, inconsistent application of policies and sexual harassment.

“We heard some stuff, Lord have mercy,” Overton said, “that I’m not going to repeat in this room.”

She said the next steps involve implementing training programs, especially sexual harassment workshops for management.

James Holman, housekeeper and forum representative, said some managers have acted inappropriately toward housekeepers.

“Some of the employees were being intimidated, being yelled at,” he said. “They weren’t being talked to appropriately by management.”

Overton said she looked forward to the issue’s resolution.

“There has been a culture that has been created at housekeeping that is going to take time to undo,” she said.

She detailed progress made since housekeepers initially filed grievances against the Wage-Hour policy, which forbids workers to take unauthorized breaks.

Holman said the University has agreed not to enforce the Wage-Hour policy to the same extent as before.

Money discrepancies

An audit of the School of Education has revealed that some employees in the school have been overcompensated, while others have not received enough money.

The issue stemmed mainly from inaccurate record-keeping, Overton said.

“They’ve had turnovers in the department, shoddy bookkeeping in the past few years,” she said.

Overton said a state law dictates that money overpaid to employees must be rescinded and absorbed by the University.

UNC hasn’t lost money yet, she said.

She said all employees have been notified and presented with the opportunity to contact management at the School of Education.

“This absolutely matters,” she said. “We haven’t had a raise in three years, healthcare is going up, some of the employees have health issues … It’s almost like a perfect storm of negativity.”

Marc ter Horst, vice chairman of the Employee Forum, said the errors were beyond employees’ control.

“It seems to me like that should be accounted for by the department or the school and not a fault of the employee,” he said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.