Staff Member Disciplined

Illona Yosefov’s offense was taking a lunch break too early. The Emerson instructional technologist arrived at work Sept. 3, submitted an assignment to her supervisor, and notified colleagues she would be taking her lunch break around 9 am.

 She used the break to stand on the public sidewalk in front of Piano Row as faculty arrived to start the academic year. She passed out bright blue leaflets headlined “Lights Are Out at the Bright,” protesting the administration’s cancellation of the Bright Lights film series and the firing of its director, Anna Feder, who had been involved in pro-Palestinian protests.

No big deal, she thought. People take early lunch breaks for all sorts of things—dentist appointments, kids’ childcare, whatever. She had no pending work; there were no objections.

Six weeks later she received a written reprimand from Emerson for her early lunch break.  The “Letter of Expectation” berated her for “serious issues related to decisions you made and actions you undertook.”

Such letters can be used to build a formal case for firing. Yosefov, who has been involved with union organizing since she began working at Emerson nine years ago, said she has had no previous disciplinary letters.  She and others at Emerson say the often flimsy and petty discipline allegations being imposed on staff and students who are engaged in pro-Palestinian protests are unprecedented at Emerson.

Disclosing the actual focus of the discipline, the letter described the surveillance of Yosefov and a co-worker and detailed her actions: “You were observed by multiple people distributing flyers in front of Piano Row, related to the closing of the Bright Lights film series.” The letter said her transgression was timed at “close to 45 minutes.”

Yosefov, a chief steward of the Emerson staff union, promptly asked her union to file a grievance.  She met Provost Alexandra Socarides and others on Nov. 18.  The union pointed out the illegitimacy  of the charges, since there was no written policy dictating when an employee—especially an exempt employee like Yosefov —had to take her lunch break.

A week later, the college grudgingly withdrew the letter from her file. In notifying her of the withdrawal, however, the college included this reprimand “During your scheduled work hours, you are expected to be solely performing your assigned job duties.“

She won, but Yosefov said the college’s language was disappointing.  “I was hoping for a recognition that, as a citizen and as a union member, I have rights,” she said. “To try and discipline me, to try to intimidate me from exercising my rights, is not a good practice.”

The real intent of the disciplinary letter, she said, is “to have a chilling effect”: to intimidate staff, union members, students, and faculty from publicly criticizing the college administration or supporting Palestine.

“I think this administration has rolled out the most oppressive, stringent protest policy that I have ever seen on any campus,” she said. “It's a message to anybody at Emerson to comply and behave—or else.”