[Publib] children of staff

[Paul Ericsson]

Deb --

As the trite saying goes "I feel your pain"

I've only had to struggle with this at one other library, and because 
we did not have a clear written policy or a statement on the 
documentation at the time of hire, it became a difficult situation 
when we finally had to ask the employee to not bring their child to 
work.  They challenged us saying inflammatory terms like 
"discriminating" and that we were "singling that employee out" and 
other wild things.  The fact was the child was interfering in a big 
way with that (parent) employees ability to do work, and was a 
distraction to other employees.  What started as a "favor" became a 
much larger personnel issue.

I think that a connection needs to be made back to the incident we've 
been talking about the past few days.  Along with "getting the work 
done" a primary consideration should be the safety of the child.  If 
the parent is deeply attentive to their work, or called away from 
their work station, or a number of reasonable scenarios -- then they 
cannot be attentive to the child.  As seen in the New Bedford Library 
incident described in the Boston Globe and other news outlets, the 
parent (patron) was working at a computer while the child was nearby 
and was raped.  I cannot for the life of me imagine how an employee 
can expect to give any kind of attention to their work if they are 
watching their child to the degree that seems to be necessary in 
public places.  Obviously some work environments will be more 
conducive than others to parent supervision - but none would seem to 
provide the kind of safety that I have wanted for my own child.

Guidelines such as "occasional" and "emergencies" and "unexpected" 
are reasonable things that I would absolutely want to provide for 
employees, just as I might ask for this for myself.  "Regular" and 
"planned" and "frequent" would be parameters that I would not allow.

These opinions are just my own.

Paul Ericsson




At 09:04 AM 2/4/2008, Doris Lively wrote:
>I have had that problem in the past and the statement below is now 
>on everyone's job description, which we go over when someone is 
>interviewed for a job.  It is included in the "Work Environment & 
>Expectations" part of the job description.
>
>Your children are not to be brought to work with you, come to your 
>work location after school until closing, or otherwise "hang out" at 
>your work location except under extreme circumstances and only with 
>prior permission of the Director.
>
>Doris
>
>At 12:32 PM 2/3/2008 -0800, Deborah wrote:
>>Does anyone have a policy or procedure, written or unwritten, 
>>regarding staff children in the workplace while the library 
>>employee is on the job? If you do allow staff children, do you 
>>limit by the child's age, duration of time they spend in the 
>>library or level of attention the child needs? Also, are the 
>>children allowed in staff areas, public or private, and have other 
>>employees accepted the situation?
>>I understand that emergencies do come up and that a child of a 
>>staff member may end up at the library due to a minor illness or 
>>cancellation by a babysitter but has anyone dealt with an employee 
>>who habitually brings their children to work?
>>Thanks!
>><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
>>Deb Beasley
>><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 
>>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Blue Island PL
>>
>>
>>Beware the man of one book. Latin Proverb
>>
>>
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>
>Doris Lively
>Director
>Grant Parish Library
>300 Main Street
>Colfax, LA  71417
>phone  318-627-9920
>fax  318-627-9900
>e-mail    dlively at state.lib.la.us
>
>Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely 
>insane every night of our lives.
> 
>-Fisher
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