The chief personnel officer of the institution can certify the
employee status if the P. I. won't. However, if the employee and her
immediate supervisor are not able to work this out without involving
you, there may well be a further agenda. You may wish to provide
either or both parties a chance to disclose this by reviewing the
status of the request with them in a non-committal manner, seeking to
verify the facts in the situation and expressing your concern about
how to maintain the quality of effort on the research and the
professional performance of the persons involved. xxxxxx@LUC.EDU