Committee upholds process for staff firings

by Toya Richards Hill and Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service
[2-1-05]

For the background on this story ...

Gordon Shull comments that following procedures is not the same as true "due process."

LOUISVILLE -- February 1, 2005 -- The General Assembly Council (GAC) Personnel Subcommittee has found that Executive Director John Detterick acted properly when he terminated two high-level PC(USA) employees in November.

"Having conducted a thorough evaluation, it was concluded that the executive director acted in a manner that was fully compliant with the applicable policies from the General Assembly Council Employee Handbook of the PC(USA)," the subcommittee said in its report to the GAC Executive Committee.

The GAC Executive Committee unanimously approved the report late yesterday afternoon.

The subcommittee's report was issued after a daylong meeting on Jan. 31 to review the procedures used by Detterick to dismiss GAC Deputy Executive Director Kathy Lueckert and Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy Coordinator Peter Sulyok. Lueckert was Sulyok's direct supervisor.

"We interviewed John Detterick and went over the entire record of the process," the Rev. Paul Masquelier, vice chair of GAC and chair of the Personnel Subcommittee, told the Presbyterian News Service.

The subcommittee also heard directly from Sulyok, who was joined by ACSWP Committee Chair Nile Harper and committee members.

In a prepared statement issued this morning, Harper told the Presbyterian News Service that ACSWP receives this decision with "great sorrow and disappointment." It closed by saying that ACSWP believes "there can be very little healing and reconciliation without justice in matters of personnel policy."

Harper's statement cited Sulyok's 11 performance evaluations, which describe his work as "excellent" or "very good." It also called Lueckert a "highly skilled, experienced and dedicated executive who served the GAC with distinction and grace."

Masquelier declined to disclose specific details of the subcommittee meeting but did say there was no dissension on the decision.

In November Detterick fired Lueckert and Sulyok following an ACSWP fact-finding trip to the Middle East in which Lueckert and Sulyok participated. That trip included a televised meeting with Hezbollah, which is listed on the U.S. government's watch list of terrorist groups.

The trip followed a controversial General Assembly action last July to begin pressuring for corporate reform among multinational corporations that profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza or that enable either Palestinian or Israeli violence. If negotiations fail, the 216^th General Assembly authorized its agencies to initiate a process of targeted divestment.

That action drew fire from the U.S. Jewish community.

Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service, "I've not been able to talk as openly as I would have liked" about the decision that was made. "But I have felt all along that my actions were appropriate. …

"I hope it's the beginning of a time when we can move forward and focus on what we are called to do."

The text of the statements issued by both ACSWP and the Personnel Subcommittee are printed below:

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A First Response from the General Assembly Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to GAC Executive Committee
Upholding Dismissals
February 1, 2005

The decision of the GAC Personnel Committee, as confirmed by the GAC Executive Committee, to uphold the action of John Detterick in dismissing Peter Sulyok and Kathy Lueckert is received by ACSWP with great sorrow and disappointment. ACSWP was informed of the decision late Monday evening.

The Reverend Peter Sulyok is a skilled, experienced and dedicated minister who has served the General Assembly Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy faithfully for twelve years. The outstanding service by Sulyok is verified by the eleven work performance evaluations in which he was rated "excellent" or "very good" by his supervisors. This evidence of his dedicated ministry was presented by ACSWP in the review process on Monday.

Kathy Lueckert is a highly skilled, experienced and dedicated executive who has served the GAC with distinction and grace. She has been a voice for the comprehensive vision of the church's mission that integrated evangelism and justice, global and local outreach, spirituality and compassion. Lueckert helped to bring a steady, stable and wise perspective into the work of the General Assembly Council.

ACSWP has not spoken out publicly until today, preferring to direct its efforts toward the internal consultations and review processes that have been ongoing for the past three months since the October trip to the Middle East. ACSWP representatives met with Detterick, Kirkpatrick and Ufford-Chase in late November in Louisville to share information not previously known by executives at the time of the dismissals.

This consultation continued into December with two subsequent conference phone calls that focused on ways of healing and reconciliation, and eventually led to the review process that finally took place on Monday, Jan. 31, in Louisville. ACSWP believes there can be very little healing and reconciliation without justice in matters of personnel policy.

Nile Harper, Chairperson
 

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Report of the Personnel Subcommittee
General Assembly Council Executive Committee
January 31, 2005

Following a time of worship and prayer, on January 31, 2005, the Personnel Subcommittee of the General Assembly Council's Executive Committee met together in open session at the Presbyterian Center. Those in attendance were: Carol Adcock, Fran Calderwood, Charles Easley, Nancy Kahaian, Linda Knieriemen, Paul Masquelier (Chair) and Allison Seed. In response to the request of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, they heard from the following representatives of ACSWP: Sue Dickson, Esperanza Guajardo, Nile Harper (Chair) and Ronald Stone. At the request of ACSWP delegation, Peter Sulyok (former Coordinator, ACSWP) accompanied them and addressed the Sub-Committee.

The Personnel Subcommittee also interviewed John Detterick (Executive Director of the GAC), Margaret Blenman (Associate Director of Human Resources), Eric Graninger (General Counsel to the GAC) and Martha Clark (Associate General Counsel to the GAC).

The Personnel Subcommittee met in order to review the process by which the employment of Peter Sulyok and Kathy Lueckert was terminated and to determine whether the process was consistent with the GAC's personnel policies. The committee reviewed all correspondence received from individuals, groups, and governing bodies. They also reviewed the General Assembly Council Employee Handbook of the PC(USA).

Having conducted a thorough evaluation, it was concluded that the Executive Director acted in a manner that was fully compliant with the applicable policies from the General Assembly Council Employee Handbook of the PC(USA).

It is the recommendation of the Personnel Subcommittee that the General Assembly Council Executive Committee prepare a pastoral letter to the church encouraging a season of prayer, acknowledging that we are wholly dependent upon God to continue the work of healing and reconciliation.