Flowers for Employees

In the event of serious illness and/or death in an employee’s immediate family (spouse, domestic partner/spousal equivalent, parent, child, step-child, adopted child, sister, brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law), Human Resources is the only department authorized to expend University funds for flowers or contributions to a selected charity.

Procedure: If an employee is out of work because of a serious illness or death in his or her immediate family, the supervisor is usually the first to know, having been informed by reason of employee accountability. At that time, the supervisor should ask the employee whether or not he or she would like the University community notified, and after assessing the sensitivity of the situation, determine the form of acknowledgement which should be sent by the University. Note: Because of requirements under the family leave policy, it is critical that supervisors notify Human Resources of any employee absence.

The supervisor then informs a Human Resources Department representative of the type of acknowledgement that should be forthcoming from the University community. The Human Resources Department responds accordingly. The President and other appropriate offices are then notified by a Human Resources Department representative.