Posted 3:09 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022
Please find attached the September Policy Action Summary. It details policy work completed between August 13, 2022 and September 30, 2022. This includes one (1) new policy, six (6) revised policies, and one (1) new system procedure.
New Policy
Revised Policies:
- SYS 236, Utilization of Independent Contractors
- SYS 240, Relocation (Household Moves) and Temporary or Indefinite Work Assignments
- SYS 324, Interinstitutional Financial Transactions
- SYS 1033,Information Security: Incident Response
- SYS 1202, Equal Employment Opportunity*
- SYS 1214, Catastrophic Leave Program
New Procedure:
* indicates the policy or procedure was recently approved, being the first notice to campuses and institutions.
FY 2023 Second Quarter
SYS Policy Preview
Attached, please find the the FY 2023 Second Quarter SYS Policy Priorities Preview memo. This details the policy work anticipated for October to December 2022, including policies and procedures to be distributed to institutions as well as policies and procedures to be approved.
Update on Revision to
SYS 825,Special Course Fees
In the September Policy Distribution to institutions, campuses were informed of technical revisions to SYS 825, Special Course Fees. Our office has further reviewed these revisions and has decided to incorporate language from the "Procedures" section from the current policy instead of creating a separate procedure. We have updated the draft policy accordingly for institutional comment.
SYS Policy Approval Notices
On October 3, President Rothman approved the new SYS policies SYS 335, Deaccessioning of Works of Art and Historical Treasures and SYS 635, Return to Work: Worker’s Compensation. For more detail on the new policies, see the summaries below.
SYS 335, Deaccessioning of Works of Art and Historical Treasures
This policy is effective as of its approval.
- This new SYS policy is designed to replaced Regent Policy Document (RPD) 22-2, Disposal of Works of Art (rescinded September 29, 2022). It was distributed to the institutions for comment simultaneously with the proposal for the RPD 22-2 recission and went through the BOR feedback process. It outlines the expectations of University of Wisconsin (UW) System Administration related to the deaccessioning and disposal of works of art and historical treasures owned by UW System institutions
o This new policy addresses all the components of the deaccessioning of works of art that are included in RPD 22-2, with the exception that reporting on deaccessioned works of art will occur to the UW System Vice President for Finance and Administration instead of to the Board of Regents.
o It also provides a definition for “works of art and historical treasures,” and provides additional information on the process to be followed if a donor agreement allows for the sale proceeds of donated items to be used for alternative purposes.
- The following feedback was received from institutions during the comment period:
- UW-Milwaukee requested that a definition be added for works of art and historical treasures. This definition was added.
- UW-Milwaukee also requested a change to the definition of works of art and historical treasures, which included the following sentence: General library holdings are typically not considered works of art or historical treasures. This was revised to “Library collections are not governed by this policy.”
- UW-Milwaukee suggested that a statement be added to say that the policy is subject to controlling donor agreements. This feedback was not incorporated because this is not allowed by GASB (the governmental standards accounting board), FASB (the private sector accounting board) or AAM (American Association of Museums). Language was added allowing for the sale of assets prior to being put into a collection (accessioned) but the policy does not address accessioned works of art or historical treasures. If a campus chooses to sell assets after being accessioned, this will be a compliance decision/risk they need to make/take.
- UW-Eau Claire suggested replacing "his/her" with "their" in section 6.C of the policy. This change was made.
- UW-Platteville was supportive of removing the requirement for institutions to have a disposal of works of art committee.
- UW-Madison found a typo in section 6.C of the policy. This was corrected.
- UW-Madison also suggested adding language regarding the direct care of collections in section 6.C. This language was not added because including that phrase would jeopardize our ability to exclude these assets’ “value” from our statements. GASB specifically looked at adding this language and decided not to do so. If a campus chooses to use proceeds for that purpose, that would again be a compliance decision/risk they would need to make/take.
SYS 635, Return to Work: Worker’s Compensation
This policy is effective as of its approval.
- This policy has been developed to ensure institutions make reasonable efforts to accommodate transitional modified work assignments within the limits of an injured employee’s capabilities when the employee has been involved in a work-related incident. It outlines provisions related to:
- Institutions make reasonable efforts to make temporary transitional modified work assignment.
- The need for notice in writing from a healthcare provider outlining the employee’s functional limitations.
- The role of the employee’s department in covering wage and benefit costs (regardless of placement).
- The preference to place employees in their department and modification or reassignment of tasks to accommodate a modified duty assignment.
- Institutions provided the following recommendations on the draft policy which were incorporated:
- In Section 1, included “the longer an employee is away from work the less likely they are to have a successful return to work.”
- In Section 3, paragraph 1, replaced “accommodate” with “make.”
- In Section 5:
- Included addition information to “Transitional Modified Work Assignment.”
- Replaced “physician” with “healthcare provider.”
- Included “cognitive and/or mental health “ to the definition of Employee Capabilities.
- Included information regarding long-term or permanent accommodations to the definition of Employee Capabilities.
- In Section 6:
- In paragraph 1, clarified language and moved information regarding long-term or permanent accommodations to the definition of Employee Capabilities.
- In paragraph 4, clarified language to better reflect the possibility that some tasks may have to be temporarily modified.
- In paragraph 5, replaced the “Chief Business Officer” with “institution’s administration” to better reflect more individuals on a campus can do this.
