The Probationary Period

Facts About the Probationary Period

Did you know?

1. Probationary periods originated in union environments. Probationary periods originated to give employers the opportunity to terminate new employees within a reasonable period of time without all the paperwork and hearings contemplated by a collective bargaining agreement.

2. Probationary periods are not required for at-will employers. The at-will doctrine states that absent a contract, either express or implied, to the contrary, an employer can terminate an employee for any reason or no reason at all. In a non-union environment, probationary periods just aren’t necessary.

3. Probationary periods may be construed as an implied contract. A probationary period could create an implied contract. When you tell an employee you have 90 days to show us that you can do the job, what is the employee thinking? “I have a permanent job for at least 90 days.” Or, maybe, “After 90 days I have a job for life.” A written agreement clearly stating that the employment relationship is at-will is the only defense in this situation.

4. Termination during the probationary period does not disqualify employees from receiving unemployment. The probationary period has no bearing on whether an employee is awarded unemployment benefits.

5. Probationary periods do not protect against lawsuits. Probationary employees have the same rights as a non-probationary employee when it comes to filing lawsuits. Probationary employees can file lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of contract, discrimination, harassment, failure to train, etc. And, there are limited situations where probationary employees can sue for due process violations. For example, if an employee is terminated in the probationary period for alleged criminal acts that were made public by the municipality, the municipality would owe this employee a name-clearing hearing in order to protect and defend his or her good name.

Tips for Implementing a  Successful Probationary Period

1. Be clear about at-will employment status. Make sure employees understand the employment relationship is at-will during and after the probationary period. This is vital to the defense of any claim that the municipality created an implied contract with the employee.

2. Be clear about your expectations. Objective goals need to be expressly stated to the employee regarding expectations. Be sure that the employee understands (a) how long the probationary period will last, (b) what needs to be accomplished during that period, (c) how often a review will occur and (d) what standards need to be met in order to successfully complete the probationary period.

3. Give feedback regularly. Supervisors should conduct periodic reviews with the employee to provide feedback about how the employee is progressing and what needs to be improved. If the employee is having performance issues, offer detailed guidance and provide additional training if necessary. Be sure that the employee assigned to provide guidance to the probationary employee is knowledgeable and experienced.

4. Encourage supervisors to ask HR for help if there is a concern. Explain to supervisors that HR is a resource and can help ensure employees are being treated fairly and consistently between municipal departments or with prior supervisors. Give the supervisors examples of what can go wrong when they don’t ask for help. For example, explain the problem created if they place a struggling employee on a one-month probationary period but a former supervisor gave employees three months to improve his/her performance. Or ask, if sued, how does the supervisor want to be perceived by a jury – as the mean supervisor who did not give the employee a second chance or the supervisor who gave the employee every opportunity (within reason) to correct the problem.

5. Document Document Document. Remember, if it’s not written down it did not happen, but if you write it down, you own it! If an employee can’t perform the essential functions of the position, you’ll likely want to terminate the employment relationship. For the best legal defense be sure the supervisor has documented dates, times, locations, witnesses of the employee’s performance, efforts to train, coach and manage, and so on.

Noise Hazards

Public Works has many different hazards workers need to be aware of and the municipality must have procedures to ensure workers are protected.  One issue to consider is Noise Hazards.  Print the brochure below to share with your employees who may work around these hazards.

What is Wastewater?

We’ve all driven by those “wastewater treatment facilities” that are usually miles away from our city or town. You know the place even before you see it; many times in the summer you can tell where it is by following your nose. Have you ever wondered what happens at those facilities? Basically, dirty water is cleaned and returned to streams and lakes in the following methods. 

What Is Wastewater?
Many people confuse the terms wastewater and sewage. According to Wikipedia, wastewater is any water that has been corrupted by human waste, but can also include industrial pollutants, as well as surface, storm, or sewer runoff. Sewage is a specific type of wastewater from human waste.

How Is Wastewater Treated?
Municipal wastewater is treated in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Once treated, wastewater is released back into water systems. In some municipalities, storm drains run directly into moving waterways such as creeks and rivers. In other municipalities where there is a high level of chemical runoff or where the storm drains combine with sewage the wastewater is sent to sewage treatment plants.

Sewage treatment is simply the process of removing contaminants from wastewater so it can be safely released back into the environment. The solids that are removed from sewage, often referred to as sludge or slurry, often undergo further treatment before being burned or even used as fertilizer.

There are physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in wastewater treatment.

The Three Main Types of Municipal Wastewater Treatment

Physical Wastewater Treatment - Physical or mechanical treatment of municipal wastewater removes the heaviest solids from raw sewage and municipal runoff. The process includes screening, sedimentation and allowing solids to sink, and often removes as much as 50-60% of the solids.

Biological Wastewater Treatment - In this second phase, live microbes are added to consume the dissolved organic matter that escaped the physical treatment stage. Microbes consume the organic matter as food and then convert it to carbon dioxide gas, water, and other less harmful waste. Additionally, much of the remaining organic material recombines or binds together. So, an additional sedimentation and screening may occur. At this point, as much as 85% of the solid waste will be removed from the wastewater.

Chemical Wastewater Treatment - This is the final step that will ensure the removal of more than 99 percent of all the impurities from wastewater. Chlorine disinfection is the most common chemical treatment. Other processes attempt to remove levels of phosphorus and nitrogen. Additionally, carbon filtering may be used in this final stage before clean water is released back into the environment.

What About Septic Systems?
According to some estimates, as much as 20% of the United States is currently treating their own sewage using onsite septic systems. Septic systems take all the water flow out of the home including the human and household waste. The wastewater flows into a septic tank where solids sink to the bottom and oils float to the top. These solids and oils are then removed on a regular basis. The remaining water flows into a drain field where the remaining liquids dissipate into the surrounding soil.

The Importance of Good Quality Microbes in Your Treatment System and Lift Stations
There are words in our language which trigger instant, negative sensations in those that encounter them. Sometimes, these feelings are justified; other times, they are not. Words like ‘bacteria’ and ‘microbe’ fall into this latter category.

These words are often associated with disease, with decay, and with general ill-health and uncleanness, but we need bacteria and microbes to survive. Microbes help us to maintain healthy digestion, they support entire ecosystems, and they can be used to great effect in our cities and towns.

Lift stations, or pumping stations, perform vital functions in our municipalities, but they can become unpleasant and even dangerous if they are not properly maintained. Therefore, good quality microbes and bacteria are vital in a treatment system and lift stations. 

A Fresher, Cleaner Environment in the Local Community
The nature of a pumping station – and the nature of the materials such stations handle – can unfortunately render them somewhat unpleasant to the people who live and work in the surrounding area. While people understand the vital work that lift stations do in municipalities all over the world, it is still the responsibility of the public works department to safeguard the quality of life of people nearby. Using good quality bacteria can assist with this.

Bacteria and microbe products work to neutralize odors, securing a fresher and far cleaner environment for the nearby city or town. They can also be used to treat the wastewater of the lift station – usually the source of the unpleasant odor. Oil, grease, and other unclean substances are broken down by the application of bacteria, and can then be easily removed or drained from the site. A healthy balance of microbes is vital to operations of the treatment system and lift stations.

Put an End to Backing Accidents

According to the National Safety Council, one out of four vehicle accidents can be blamed on poor backing techniques.  Backing accidents cause 500 deaths and 15,000 injuries per year in the United States.  The use of safe vehicle backing techniques by municipal personnel can help reduced accidents while on the job.

• Blind Spots:  Know where they are.  In a medium-sized truck, blind spots can extend up to 16 ft in front and 160 ft behind a vehicle. Drivers need to remember that mirrors can never give the whole picture while backing. In the photo below, the blind spot to the rear of the fire truck is 247 ft.

• Think in advance: Don’t back your vehicle unless you must.  Plan before you park.  If possible park along a curb, in an alley, at the gas pump or pull through a park spot.

• Back Slowly:  Back your vehicle at less than 1 mph.  If you do strike an object, driving slowly will limit damages.

• Park Defensively:  Don’t park near high traffic areas, for example at the entries of businesses; these areas are where you are most likely to be involved in an accident.

• First-Pull-Forward:  Back into your parking spot upon arrival.  If you have parked forward in a parking space, at the time of departure by the time you shut the door and click your seat belt a car or group of people could now be in your backing path.

• Use Correct Backing Path:  Only back up if you must.  If you do back up, use the correct backing path: (listed from least hazardous to most hazardous) straight backing, backing using the driver's mirror (swinging to the left), backing using the passenger mirror (swinging to the right).

• When backing, be cautious of front end swing:  When driving forward the rear wheels follow the steering axle; when backing, the front of the vehicle will swing wider than the rear axle.  This swinging could result in the vehicle striking vehicles or other objects.

In the photos above, if the sanitation truck driver were to back up and swing right, the truck would strike the silver Camaro sitting next to it.  You can see in the third photo that the car is not visible to the driver in the side-view mirror.

• Use backing aides:  At a minimum most vehicles have a rear-view mirror and side mirrors.  Some vehicles have additional mirrors, backing sensors and/or backing cameras.  Don’t focus on just mirrors or a backing camera, use all of the tools at your disposal to back safely. 

• Do a walk around:  Walking around a vehicle gives a driver a firsthand view of the backing area and any limitations.  They can check for children, soft or muddy areas, potholes and other dangers.  In addition, they can also check for obstructions, low-hanging trees and wires, and other potential clearance-related hazards.

• Every backing situation is new and different:  Sometimes a driver visits the same location several times a day and should be watchful each visit for changes and any new obstacles.

• Use a spotter:  Drivers should use another person to help them when backing.  The driver and spotter should use hand signals instead of verbal ones.  Before using a spotter, agree on the hand signals to be used prior to backing.  If you get a signal you don’t understand, stop and don’t continue until you understand the information the spotter is giving you.  In addition, don’t have spotters walking backward while giving signals and don't place them in a caught-in-between hazardous situation (i.e. a backing sanitation truck and dumpster, or backing truck and a wall).

Long-Term Solutions to Safe Backing

• Implementing backing policies/procedures can help reduce accidents and injuries. These are some considerations for backing policies:

  • Limit backing to a specified distance: Do not back more than 200 ft. If you must back further, pull forward to get in a better position to shorten your backing path.

  • First-Movement-Forward: Require all vehicles to back into parking spots upon arrival.

  • Require spotters for vehicles with poor driver visibility, such as sanitation, fire and dump trucks.

  • Shorten backing path and improve visibility in areas of constant backing, such as at sanitation transfer stations.

• Installation of backing sensors and rear-vision camera systems in vehicles assists in limiting rear blind spots. Investing in rear-view camera systems for vehicles can put drivers in better visual control of the rear of a vehicle.

• No amount of forward-driving experience can help a driver with backing a truck or other vehicle. All drivers need to practice safe backing techniques and limit backing to only when absolutely necessary.

• Creation and support of a municipal-wide training program: The program should include a driver’s course to teach and review backing techniques, and also cover equipment usage, hand signals, dangers to avoid, and other risk-lowering topics.

*Special thanks to Albert Pierce (Solid Waste Director, City of Durant) & Stephen Coy (Fire Chief, City of Warr Acres) for their contributions to this article.

For additional information on driver training or other value-added services from OMAG contact William Sheppard or Billy Carter at (800) 234-9461. 

Caring For Oklahoma Municipal Cemeteries (Part II)

As a service to our members, OMAG’s Risk Management Services Department has developed a series of articles addressing various challenges and issues municipal cemetery caretakers might face.  Although tort claims generated from cemeteries aren’t at the top of the frequency or severity list, these types of claims don’t bode well for our public image and are most certainly preventable.

Maintenance work in a cemetery is unlike other landscaping jobs.  Issues like equipment safety and proper use of tools are important. But equally important is the ability to see your work as visitors to your facility would see it.  This approach requires excellent attention to detail. When family or friends visit, all they will see is the condition of their loved one’s grave. You want to make sure that what they see is a clean well-maintained site.

Municipalities should identify and adhere to “best practices” when it comes to cemetery lawn maintenance.  These best practices, when observed, are likely to cause the least damage to both the cemetery landscape and, in particular, the stone markers.  These recommendations, however, are not intended to represent a “one-size-fits-all” approach to landscape maintenance.  Every cemetery is different – the topography is different, the composition of the lawn is different, its public use is different, even the funding available for maintenance is different.  Any “best practices” provide guidance that must be customized to each cemetery’s specific and particular needs.

"When family or friends visit, all they will see is the condition of their loved one's grave. To ensure what they see is a clean well-maintained site, municipalities should adhere to "best practices" when it comes to cemetery lawn maintenance."

The single most damaging lawn maintenance activity (to stones) is mowing.  In addition, mowing is frequently the single largest cemetery expenditure.  It is critical that lawn mowing is done in a manner the protects the monuments, as well as the lawn.  The most serious issue is the routine removal of grass in the immediate vicinity of gravestones and tombs.  The best practice is to mow to within 12-inches of markers and finish the work using hand shears.  This approach, however, is almost universally cost prohibitive.  Another approach is the removal of grass around the bases of stones.  The solution is usually discouraged since it creates an unnatural and unattractive landscape and its long-term maintenance creates additional costs and threats to the stone (especially since there will be an inclination to use weed killer as a simple solution).

Gravestone damaged by improper mowing techniques. The single most damaging lawn maintenance activity (to stones) is mowing.

The best workable solution is to use no power mower within 12-inches of the markers.  Weed whips (rotating nylon filament trimmers) may then be used – with extreme care – to finish the job up to the stone.  For these procedures to cause minimal damage, four precautions are absolutely critical:

1. The maintenance crew must be carefully trained and closely supervised.  They must understand the historic markers are very fragile and that the activities used on residential or commercial grounds are unacceptable for historic cemeteries.

2. Only walk behind mowers should be used – riding mowers offer too little control and operators are too inclined to take chances in an effort to speed the mowing up and get on to another job.

3. All mowers – even when used no closer than 23 inches – must have bumper guards installed to offer additional protection.  This can be achieved by using cable ties to attach closed cell foam, such as that used for the insulation of pipes, to the sides, front, and rear of all mowers.

4. The nylon string in the trimmers must be the lightest gauge possible – no heavier than 0.09 inch.
    

Gravestone damaged by improper trimming techniques. Weed whips may be used - with extreme care - with the lightest possible nylon string.

Perhaps the best protection from mower damage, however, is the active involvement of the superintendent in the oversight of the landscape maintenance operations – inspections should be made during and after mowing operations.

Look for future articles, publications, and training events that will assist you in maintaining and managing your municipal cemetery.