last updated: Thursday, July 1, 2004
The NYS Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a joint labor and management program. EAP is a free, confidential information, support and referral system. EAP is not a counseling service but is a link between employees and skilled counseling, medical, and allied professionals. All information is kept strictly confidential at the work place.
"It [EAP] was created to help employees cope with personal problems such as alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional stress, financial difficulties and family illness or death which can adversely affect their lives and might impair their job performance." [GOER State Employee Orientation Program]
EAP is open to all state employees, salaried or hourly. Each SUNY campus has identified an EAP coordinator. Information about how to contact the coordinator should be available in campus directories and may also be obtained from the campus Human Resources Office. Employees or supervisors can also use the "general information" reference below to identify their campus's EAP coordinator.
If employees would like assistance with personal problems, they may contact
the EAP Office themselves. If personal problems appear to be affecting an employee's
work performance supervisors may recommend that employees contact EAP and then
give them a reasonable period of time to solve such problems before initiating
other actions to correct the employee's behavior or performance. If extraordinary
efforts are necessary to get employees to confront problems that are affecting
their work performance, a disciplinary settlement requiring an employee to contact
the campus's EAP coordinator may be appropriate. Under such circumstances it
is appropriate to include a requirement that the EAP confirm that the employee
is meeting the disciplinary obligations while not revealing any confidiential
information about the employee's problems or dealings with the EAP office.
Reference(s):
Employee
Assistant Program (EAP) On-Line Training for Supervisors from the Governor's
Office of Employee Relations (GOER)
http://www.ric.goer.state.ny.us/wbt/eap/
General Information about
EAP including a directory --"Locate Your Coordinator" -- listing
EAP coordinators and their phone number at the various units within State agencies
http://www.eap.lmc.state.ny.us/public.htm