INCLEMENT WEATHER

Volume 2, Facilities
Chapter 5, Inclement Weather
Responsible Executive: Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration
Responsible Office: Facilities Management
Originally Issued: December 15, 1997
Revised: February 2001
Updated: 2/1/01, 11/29/05
Errors or changes? Email us.

CONTENTS

POLICY STATEMENT

REASON FOR POLICY

ENTITIES AFFECTED BY THIS POLICY

WHO SHOULD READ THIS POLICY

RELATED DOCUMENTS

CONTACTS

DEFINITIONS

PROCEDURES

Overview

Staff Member Needs
Essential Employees
Travel to and from Work
How to Learn about a Change in Operating Status
Decision to Make a Change in Operating Status
Campus Travel and Parking
Compensation

Geneva Experiment Station

NOTIFICATION

Notification Procedures

RESPONSIBILITIES

APPENDIX

How a Decision Is Made

POLICY STATEMENT

Cornell University may change its operating status due to inclement weather. Academic and administrative units must abide by the decision made by central administration regarding operating status.

REASON FOR POLICY

The university must ensure consistency in implementing a change in university operating status due to inclement weather.

ENTITIES AFFECTED BY THIS POLICY

• Endowed Ithaca and Contract Colleges of the University, Tompkins County and Geneva locations

WHO SHOULD READ THIS POLICY

• All members of the Cornell University community

RELATED DOCUMENTS

• University Policy 2.10, Emergency Planning
• University Policy 6.9, Time Away from Work (Excluding Academic and Bargaining Unit Staff)

CONTACTS

DEFINITIONS

PROCEDURES

Overview

Caution: The decision of central administration as to when the university will close will govern all units of the university located in Tompkins County. Individual colleges and departments may not override the decision of central administration (departments and units may not stay open if central administration has declared that the university is closed; similarly, units may not declare themselves closed unless the university is closed).

This policy describes university procedures for implementing a change in operating status (see the "Procedures" Section of this document); provides information on university schedules during a change in operating status (see the "Change In Operating Status" segment of this document); and outlines standard notification procedures for administrators to follow in such instances (see the "Notification" Section of this document).

Note: Procedures for the Geneva Experiment Station may differ from those of Tompkins County locations. See the "Geneva Experiment Station" segment of this document for more information.

Staff Member Needs

Essential Employees

Essential employees are those needed on campus to meet the needs of students, research programs, or general operations when the university and/or the local roads are closed. This includes, but is not limited to, individuals providing critical dining or health services, those needed to tend critical research experiments needing regular attention, those tending to the needs of research animals, or those in critical physical plant or safety operations.

Designation of essential employees is at the discretion of unit and department heads on an annual basis. To designate an individual as an essential employee, complete an Essential Employee Letter of Designation. The form should be on unit letterhead, and be modeled after the sample contained in the "Forms" Section of this document. IT should be kept in the individual's vehicle.

Travel to and from Work

If a county or municipality announces that you should "avoid unnecessary travel" but no special operating status has been announced, you are expected to report to work as usual (travel to and from work is considered necessary travel).

Occasionally, a county or municipality announces that the roads are closed. Essential employees who attempt to come to work when the roads are closed are encouraged to carry a Letter of Designation to be available to any law enforcement officer (see the "Forms" Section of this document).

How to Learn about a Change in Operating Status

When a decision has been made to change the operating status of the university, dissemination of the details will be through telephone trees, e-mail, and the local media. The expected reopening time and/or date will be available with the closing information, through these channels, whenever possible.

Option A
Radio or Television

Whenever possible, announcements of a decision regarding university operating status will be broadcast over local and regional radio and television stations, beginning at 5:00 AM (see the table below).

Note: The media generally do not carry announcements of openings; they broadcast closings and delays only. If there is no announcement concerning Cornell, assume that the university will be open and operating as usual.

Table 1
Radio and television stations broadcasting changes in university operating status

Ithaca	WHCU 870 AM	WPIE 1160 AM	WTKO 1470 AM	WICB 91.7 FM	WVBR 93.5 FM
	WYXL 97.3 FM	WQNY 103.7 FM
Binghamton	WKOP 680 AM	WNBF 1290 AM	WSQX 89.3 FM	WSKG 90.9 FM	WHWK 98.1 FM
	WAAL 99.1 FM	WYOS 104 FM
Cortland	WKRT 920 AM	WIII 99.9 FM
Dundee	WFLR 1570 AM	WFLR 95.9 FM
Elmira/ Watkins Glen/ Montour Falls	WWLZ 820 AM	WENY 1230 AM	WGMF 1490 AM	WENY 92.7 FM	WPGI 100.9 FM
	WNGZ 104.9 FM	WNKI 106.1 FM
Owego	WEBO 1330 AM	WLTB 101.7 FM
Syracuse - AM	WSYR 570	WHEN 620	WFBL 1050
Syracuse - FM	WSEN 92.1	WYYY 94	WBBS 104.7	WHCD 106.9	WWHT 107.9
Television	News Center 7	IC TV 16	WBNG 12	WENY 36	WICZ 40
	WIVT 34	WIXT 9	WTVH 5	WSTM 3	WSYT 68

Option B
Telephone

Call 255-3377 to find out the present or predicted operating status of the university. This is particularly useful to those regularly scheduled to start work before 5:00 AM.

Option C
University closing listserv

Notice of any change in university operating status will be distributed via the University Closing Listserv. To subscribe to this university e-mail listserv, send an e-mail message to listproc@cornell.edu. The text of the message should read:

SUBSCRIBE UNIV-CLOSING-L FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
(use your own first name and last name)

Option D
The World Wide Web

Employees may access information on the operating status of the university by going to the following url: http://www.info.cornell.edu/CUHomePage/Status.html .

Decision to Make a Change in Operating Status

The table that follows shows university schedules associated with decisions to change the operating status of the university.

Table 2
University schedules during inclement weather

Campus Travel and Parking

Compensation

In the event of a delayed opening, partial closing, or closing, regular full-time and part-time employees who are not required to report to or remain at work will be paid at their regular rate for regularly scheduled hours while the university is closed.

Non-exempt employees should record this time as "leave with pay."

Regular full-time or part-time non-exempt employees who are required to work during a delayed opening, partial closing, or full closing will receive pay at time and one-half their normal rate for hours actually worked plus compensatory time off equal to the hours worked during this closing. Alternatively, upon mutual agreement between the employee and the supervisor, the non-exempt employee may receive straight pay for the day plus compensatory time off equal to one and one-half times the number of hours actually worked during this closing . All compensatory time must be taken during the fiscal year in which it is earned. Departments are responsible for maintaining compensatory time records for employees who work under these inclement weather conditions.

Compensation during inclement weather for employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreement is subject to the provisions of their contracts.

Employees who cannot report to or cannot remain at work due to personal travel conditions when the university is open may charge the time off to personal leave or vacation; make up the time within the same work week at the mutual convenience of the employee and the supervisor; or request leave without pay. Those employees on an approved scheduled vacation or on sick leave will be charged leave time regardless of the weather or the operating status of the university.

Geneva Experiment Station

The Experiment Station has only one emergency mode of operation during inclement weather. This is a cancellation of all functions except those essential to safety and basic physical plant operation. The latter functions, covering seven days and three shifts, have special guidelines.

The Director or his designee has the responsibility to make the decision to declare the emergency mode. The decision at Geneva is made independent of any emergency mode decisions affecting the Cornell Campus at Ithaca.

If the city or county announces that motorists are prohibited from driving on all or some of the roads, we do not expect employees to violate those rules. However, some essential personnel will be needed on the job. Essential personnel are designated by their supervisors based on certain criteria and are issued cards identifying their essential service function.

Whenever possible, announcement of decisions on inclement weather conditions will be made by 6:30 a.m. of the day affected, through the Director's Office.

The following radio stations have agreed to cooperate with us in announcements of the inclement weather emergency:

In the event that a weather emergency is called during the day, notification will be made through departmental offices.

On any day in which the Station is operating in the emergency mode of operation during inclement weather, those employees normally scheduled to work will be compensated as if they had worked. Employees on vacation and sick leave, or on a regularly scheduled day off, will not be additionally compensated for an inclement weather day.

Those regular full-time or part-time overtime pay eligible essential employees who are required to work will receive pay at time and one-half their normal rate for hours actually worked during the closing (delayed, partial, full) plus compensatory time off, equal to the employee's hours worked during the closing (delayed, partial, full). As an alternative, upon mutual agreement between the employee and supervisor, the overtime pay eligible employee may receive straight pay for the day plus compensatory time off equal to one and one-half times the number of hours actually worked during the closing (delayed, partial, full). All compensatory time must be taken within the fiscal year (July 1-June 30) in which it is earned. These days should be recorded as leave with pay. Departments are responsible for maintaining compensatory time records for overtime pay eligible employees who work under these inclement weather conditions.

NOTIFICATION

Notification Procedures

The following tables show the notification duties if there is any change in university operating status surrounding a period of inclement weather. Notification of a decision to close or delay will be communicated to the campus community as quickly as possible. If the decision is made during working hours, e-mail and telephone trees will be used. Under all circumstances, notification will be sent to local radio and TV stations, and posted to the University's closing listserv (to subscribe, see the "How to Learn About a Change In Operating Status" segment of this document).

Table 3
Notification duties fro decisions regarding operating status of the university

RESPONSIBILITIES

The major responsibilities each party has in connection with University POlicy 2.5, Inclement Weather, are as follows:

APPENDIX

Form 1
Essential Employee Letter of Designation, sample

How a Decision Is Made

The following flow chart shows how a decision is made by the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration regarding inclement weather and the university's operating status: