Members Present: Hon. M. Richard Geiger, Chair; Hon. Gail Hagerty; Hon. Carol Ronning
Kapsner; Chris Myers; Gladys Schmitt; and Ted Smith
Members Absent: Jerrold Arneson; Hon. John T. Paulson
Others Present: Sally Holewa, ex officio Amy Klein, staff Renee Barnaby, minutes
Chair Geiger called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m.
Minutes The first item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes. It was moved by Judge Hagerty,
seconded by Chris Myers, to approve the minutes of the May 5, 2009 meeting. The motion
carried.
It was noted that the alternative language for the absenteeism and tardiness policy would be reviewed
at a later meeting.
Proposed Salary Ranges for 2009-2010 Amy Klein presented the Board with the proposed pay ranges for July 2009 through June 2010. The
changes reflect a 5% increase in all pay grades and steps based on the provision in House Bill 1015,
which provides a 5% increase in employee salaries.
It was moved by Ted Smith, seconded by Chris Myers, to approve the proposed salary ranges
and forward it to the Supreme Court for consideration. The motion carried.
Employee Handbook The members continued with their review of the policies beginning with page 90.
Judge Hagerty suggested the Board consider an alternative phrase other than the "ND Judicial
System" when referring to the judiciary throughout the handbook. She prefers the "North Dakota
Judicial Branch."
Sally Holewa said she recently spoke with the chief justice, and he suggested the judicial system be
referred to as the "North Dakota Court System."
Chair Geiger stated at the beginning of the handbook, we could identify the court as the North
Dakota Court System and just refer to the Court System within the body of the documents.
It was suggested that Ms. Holewa confer with the chief justice again about the term "North Dakota
Judicial Branch".
It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to table the matter and return
at a future meeting to discuss the matter after Ms. Holewa has conferred with the chief justice.
The motion carried with one opposition.
Nepotism It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Gladys Schmitt, to approve the nepotism policy.
Judge Hagerty suggested the policy be reworded to clearly state that an employee cannot supervise
the supervisor of an employee's spouse.
It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to change the word "position"
to "line" in the third last line of the first paragraph. The motion carried.
It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Ted Smith, to omit the words "by birth" in the
first bullet. The motion carried.
It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Gladys Schmitt, to add "grandchild" as a new
bullet. The motion carried.
The motion carried to approve the nepotism policy as modified.
Fraternization It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Chris Myers, to approve the fraternization
policy.
Amy Klein commented the draft policy would be a new policy for the court system.
It was moved by Chair Geiger, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to strike the word "provides" and
insert "intends to provide" in the first line, first paragraph, and in the second line of the first
paragraph, insert the word "in" after the word "involved". The motion carried.
Judge Hagerty suggested a style guideline be discussed at a future meeting to address the issues of
punctuation, grammar and other issues.
It was the consensus of the Board to table the style guideline discussion. Prior to finalizing the
handbook, the Board will address the issues of capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and different
terms of authority.
It was moved by Ted Smith, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to strike the word "involved" in the
second line of the first paragraph and also the second line of the second paragraph. The
motion carried.
Judge Hagerty stated the second paragraph states "a modification of the work relationship may be
implemented." She inquired what would happen if a modification was not possible.
Sally Holewa said she does not view the policy as prohibiting a relationship; it just gives the court
the authority to change the supervision or ensure that it does not impact the workplace.
It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Ted Smith, to strike the last sentence in the first
paragraph. The motion carried.
A roll call vote was taken. The motion carried 4 to 2 to approve the fraternization policy.
Harassment It was moved by Ted Smith, seconded by Gladys Schmitt, to approve the harassment policy.
Ted Smith stated the current harassment policy is more straightforward and easier to understand than
the new draft.
It was moved by Chair Geiger to modify the second paragraph to read as follows: "Sexual
harassment is any unwelcome verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of sexual nature when:".
The motion carried.
It was moved by Chair Geiger, seconded by Judge Hagerty, to incorporate the second
paragraph in section B, of the current policy, into the new draft policy. The motion carried.
It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Gladys Schmitt, to strike the word "in" in the
first line of the third paragraph and replace it with the word "includes". The motion carried.
It was moved by Chris Myers, seconded by Ted Smith, to include the word "nonverbal" after
the word "verbal" in the first line of the third paragraph. The motion carried. It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Chris Myers, to modify the first sentence of the
fourth paragraph to read as follows: "Employees must report any incidents of harassment
towards them or another employee to an immediate supervisor, appointing authority, or
human resources." The motion carried.
It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Judge Hagerty, in second sentence of the fourth
paragraph, to delete the word "they" and insert the phrase "the supervisor". It was determined
that the matter will be discussed at a later date when the Board reviews the stylistic/grammatical
changes. It was moved by Gladys Schmitt, seconded by Ted Smith, to modify the second sentence in the
fourth paragraph to read as follows: "Once notified of an issue, the supervisor or appointing
authority must contact human resources." The motion carried.
It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Gladys Schmitt to include the words "sexual
orientation," after the word "sex" in the second line of the third paragraph. The motion
carried.
Mr. Smith inquired if a written report should be required when reporting/filing an incident. Ms.
Holewa responded the law if very open and states any supervisory authority or management authority
who knows or should have known is liable.
The motion carried to included the harassment policy in the draft manual.
Workplace Violence It was moved by Justice Kapsner, seconded by Chris Myers, to approve the Workplace
Violence policy.
It was moved by Chair Geiger, seconded by Justice Kapsner, that in the second paragraph,
fourth line, to strike the word "issue" and insert the phrase "incident of workplace violence".
The motion carried.
It was the consensus of the Board to strike the word "organization" and insert the word "Court
System" in the first paragraph, line 3, and in the third paragraph, line 4.
It was moved by Ted Smith, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to modify the last sentence in the
second paragraph to read, "Once notified of an incident of workplace violence, the supervisor
or appointing should contact human resources." The motion carried.
It was moved by Judge Hagerty, seconded by Justice Kapsner, to delete the words "criminal
authorities" in the last line of the third paragraph, and insert the words "the prosecution."
The motion carried.
The motion carried to approve the workplace violence policy.
Other Business Chair Geiger said all of the policies will be subject to further review at a later date. The members
will also try to use email to initiate discussion on the policies before the meetings. The next meeting
is June 5, 2009, at 8:00 a.m.