Follow-up items from previous Meet and Confers
1. ACSS: Again requested 5 percent COLA for all excluded employees effective July 1, 2007.
DPA: There is money in the budget for a 3.4% COLA for excluded employees.
2. Fixing the “less than 5 percent differential” compaction problems in non-traditional reporting relationships (those not corrected in 2006)
DPA: We need ACSS to prioritize these issues that you send to us because DPA has to incorporate them with our issues and then prioritize everything when we go to the Department of Finance for funding.
3. Payment of licenses/differentials for excluded employees who were required to have them as rank and file as they progressed through their promotional ladders. ACSS also requested that for any newly promoted supervisor who was receiving a differential for holding a license as a rank and file employee and then lost this payment when they promoted, their salary should be adjusted higher within their current salary range to compensate for the loss.
DPA: This will require a tremendous amount of staff time and research. Stay tuned. We will provide updates as information becomes available.
4. Top-step rounding for Board of Equalization Business Tax Compliance Supervisors I, II, III. ACSS requested retroactivity for our members.
DPA: We hope to have the pay letter out this month.
5. Labor Market Adjustments (LMA) for BOE and EDD Business Tax Compliance Supervisors I, II, III. Again, ACSS inquired about this issue, asking DPA what the two departments had requested on behalf the employees in this class series and what, if anything, DPA was doing regarding this issue.
DPA: We will check with our Compensation and Classification Division that handles these issues.
6. Legal interpretation of Government Code Section 19841 – Moving Expense Reimbursement. ACSS disagrees with BOE’s interpretation.
DPA: We will check with our Legal Department on this issue of interpretation.
7. Program Technicians in Parole and Community Services Division at CDCR should receive the same $500/80hours bonus as rank and file employees were provided.
DPA: We will get an answer for you in the next week.
8. Compaction adjustment for Caltrans Supervisor of Drafting Services who supervise Transportation Engineering Technicians (TET)
DPA: Give us the names of those Supervisors of Drafting Services who are directly supervising Transportation Engineering Technicians so we can research each situation.
9. ACSS again asked to have DPA add Orange County to the list of “high cost” areas for reimbursable expenses. We also gave examples of employees having difficulty obtaining hotel rooms at the current rates provided.
DPA: They will get back to us.
10. Promotional patterns at Porterville Developmental Center (PDC) for Supervising Registered Nurses (SRN), Assistant Coordinator of Nursing Services (ACNS) and Coordinator of Nursing Services (CNS).
DPA: We will schedule a separate meeting to discuss these issues.
New Items for Discussion
1. Change DPA Law 19858.1, so that leave time is based on seniority when there is a scheduling conflict.
DPA: We will look into this.
2 Provide to all newly promoted Unit 7 supervisors who had safety retirement the same benefit offered by the CHP, which is to have their salaries adjusted by 6.2 percent to offset the cost of Social Security. ACSS inquired how this 6.2 percent offset works and whether it is given to newly promoted SO7 employees in other departments.
DPA: Newly promoted employees get their 5 percent raise and then their salaries are elevated an additional 6.2 percent within their salary range. At no time will an employee’s salary be raised above the maximum salary rate for their classification. Only CHP has offered this benefit.
ACSS requested that all Unit 7 employees who have promoted into supervisory classes since July 1, 2004 be afforded the same benefit.
DPA: That’s not going to happen. However, if you have specific cases where a Unit 7 employee was promoted and lost his/her safety retirement, provide DPA names and details.
3. ACSS has encountered some difficulties at certain worksites in obtaining access to bulletin boards.
DPA: We will remind departments of the PML issued on June 13, 2001, addressing this issue.
4. ACSS requested that all excluded employees who are participating in annual leave accrue the regular eight hours of sick leave rather than the four they are currently receiving.
DPA: We will get back to you on this.
5. ACSS asked that excluded employees receive life insurance equal to one year's salary, rather than the current $25,000/$50,000 offered.
DPA: We will get back to you on this.
6. ACSS has been informed by our members that employees in the classifications of Health Facility Evaluator II (Supervisor) and Health Facility Evaluator Manager I & II who possess a nursing license will be receiving a $750 differential. Is this true?
DPA: Yes. The reason for this is because we don’t want those nurses who promote into these classes to encounter a reduction in salary, nor do we want to create a recruitment and retention problem in those classes.
ACSS: How can you provide one set of employees with a salary increase and others in the same classification none? This will create many problems because DPA is essentially creating a two-tier salary range in these two classes!