Severe Weather Notification and UK Alert

Colleagues,

With winter approaching, I would like to take a moment to discuss our plans for severe winter weather and other university emergencies.

Now is a good time to review and update your UK Alert account. UK Alert, the University’s emergency notification system, is activated in times of University closings, delays, early dismissals due to weather, and other major emergencies. Log in to myUK and click the UK Alert tab under Employee Self-Service to update your account.

In making staffing decisions on days of severe winter weather, we always are mindful of the safety of all members of our community. We must balance that concern with sustaining our critical missions of education, research, service, and patient care. While our goal is to always keep campus fully operational, there are rare occasions when we must alter our normal schedule or close campus and operate on our severe weather staffing plan known as Plan B.

(Please note: Due to the nature of operations in a health care environment, UK HealthCare employees will follow the procedures and policies outlined in UK HealthCare Policy and Procedure #A09-055 UK HealthCare Plan B Staffing During University Emergencies.) To help reduce confusion during closings and delays, all employees now fall under one of three categories:

• Designated employee: Regular attendance is required when Plan B staffing is in effect.
• Designed employee via remote access: Employee may work remotely during Plan B staffing; if remote access is unavailable, employee must report to work.
• Non-designated employee: Employee should not report to work unless specifically contacted by a supervisor and asked to do so.

While some campus employees must still report to work during Plan B, in general, most campus employees will be non-designated. Should non-designated employees work during Plan B, they will not receive emergency closing time off to be taken at a later date.

Employee designations may also change, based on the needs of the University or individual departments and colleges. It is important to discuss your position and Plan B category with your supervisor. For more information on employee designation and procedures on Plan B days or other university emergencies, please review HR Policy and Procedure #71.

Details about the University’s severe weather procedures can be found here.

You can also find the most up-to-date information during emergencies in the following places:

• UK home page
• UK Alert website
• UKNow
• UK’s official social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter
• The UK Infoline at 859-257-5684
• UK cable channel 184
• Digital cable channel 219
• Other local media outlets

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Eric N. Monday

Executive Vice President for Finance & Administration