Thursday, June 30, 2011

June Meeting Summary

Greetings Directors!

In June, we heard Mara from First Children's Finance present on Recruiting Non-Profit Board Members (worksheets available here). We also had Nichole Polifka, Professional Development Manager from the Minnesota Children's Museum out to speak about their Intentional Provider professional development series. As a group, we discussed sibling discounts (most centers present offered 10% off to the older children in a family) and financial management software (one center used EZCare and was dissatisfied, most used Quickbooks or something equivalent, another center had specially designed software).

Suggestion for future discussion: social media policy and use in child care marketing.

I will be posting the schedule for the site tours later today. We will meet at the first center at 10am on July 14th. Thanks to all of the centers who have volunteered for visits!

Links to documents distributed are within the meeting summary. One additional document would be information about MN Charities law that Mara handed out, available here.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Email from MCCA regarding Government Shutdown - Families receiving TANF funds will continue to be funded

Today, Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin, released her ruling what core government functions should continue in the case of a government shutdown and without the passage of appropriations. The ruling states that despite negative impacts of a shutdown, the Constitution limits judicial branch authority.

Therefore, the Court is narrowly construing its authority to order government spending to maintain core functions.
As it relates to childcare assistance, Judge Gearin ruled that while TANF childcare should continue to be funded, Basic Sliding Fee childcare would not.  The court ruled that although not funding non-TANF child care assistance may cause extreme hardship to low income working parents, increase the public assistance rolls because some of these people will have to leave the workforce in order to care for their children, and may lessen for opportunities for low income children to succeed in school.  These likely consequences can only be avoided by the exercise of legislative and executive branch discretion in settling the budget issues.
The Governor and Legislative leaders continue to meet to try and resolve their differences over the budget. 

Whether or not they reach an agreement in the next 30 hours is unclear.  So, it is very important that you contact Governor Dayton and your legislators to let them know the impact this has on your center, families and children.   (from Child Care Works: Find who represents you at http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/ and call or email today!)
We are contacting DHS to see what information they will be sending out to providers.  We will keep you informed as we learn more but please dont hesitate to contact me, if you have questions.


Valerie Dosland                                                                             
MCCA Lobbyist

NEW Poll posted on the blog - Please let us know how you plan to handle the government shutdown.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

More from May - Employer resources

Here are the last 3 handouts that Sue Fischer brought with at our May meeting, shared via google docs:

Coaching/Employee Improvement
Termination Guide
Unpaid Internships

Meeting Reminder - June

This is just a reminder that we will be meeting Thursday, June 9th from 10am-12p at RCC West for the director's group. Mara will present on non-profit board recruitment and we will discuss: discounts, financial management and attendance software and plan the site tour visits for next month. We should have time this week if there is another question or topic you would like to discuss. I can be reached at directorsgroup@resourcesforchildcare.org.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Additional Recap

Some other tips from the last meeting that I found in my notes:
  • If you cap how much PTO can rollover from year-to-year, be very clear about the amount of rollover, the amount of accrual, and the time period an employee has to use it (for example, "an employee can rollover up to 10 hours of PTO per year, but it must be used by March 31st of the year and employees cannot accrue more than 90 hours of PTO in their bank.")
  • When giving written employee improvement plans, be sure that your final line includes "...violation of this or any policies can be subject to discipline up to and including termination."
  • Remember that your employee handbook is not a contract, you may pull out important policies or contract pieces for employment and have employees sign them separately.
  • Make sure you are tracking actual hours worked and not just scheduled hours in paying employees.
  • Paycheck deductions by your company (for in-service, uniforms, child care, etc.) must all be authorized.
  • Final paychecks after termination: If voluntary - next pay period; if involuntary - employee must request it in writing and you must provide within 24 hours. Just have it ready to go for them!
  • Don't forget to include a PTO policy stating that unused accrued PTO will be considered forfeit if terminated, otherwise it's considered due wages and must be paid.
  • Required training time must be paid. Trainings that you require must be paid for by you.
  • Avoid progressive disciplinary procedures, it locks you in to a forced procedure when the best course may be to terminate immediately.
  • Employees have a right to review their personnel file every 6 months and should receive written notice of that (include in employee handbook).

Thanks! I will be posting the last 2 google docs handouts sometime soon. Don't forget our next meeting is this Thursday. I have in my notes that we will talk about sibling discounts and attendance and financial management software. Other suggestions are welcome.