NEWS

Salary Compaction Victory for Correctional Education Supervisors and Other Special Salary Adjustments for Excluded Employees

On July 11, 2017, CalHR released Pay Letter 17-18 which clarifies details on the General Salary Increases (GSIs) for excluded employees, effective July 1, 2017. The Pay Letter also provides more information on Special Salary Increases (SSAs) for certain classifications.

Because of ACSS’ tireless efforts with CalHR and CDCR, we have accomplished a huge milestone by alleviating salary compaction for CDCR Office of Correctional Education Supervisors. In 2015, ACSS reported that we proposed to remedy one of the most egregious cases of salary compaction where the Correctional Education Supervisors were making 13 % less than those they supervised. We are thrilled to report that Pay Letter 17-18 (pages 41-42) officially provides an 8% – 17% special salary increase, to bring those classifications up to a 5% pay differential above the employees they supervise. ACSS continues to strive for a 10% differential for all excluded employees. However, we are extremely pleased that ACSS’s diligence has helped these classes attain some resolution.

The Special Salary Adjustments for excluded employees start on page 39 and include specific classifications in S01, M01, S03, M03, S08, M08, S12, U12, S13, M16, S16, U16, and S17. CalHR’s criteria to pass on the SSA is to follow the administration’s directive to establish and maintain a 5% pay differential. Notable and positive points from the Pay Letter are as follows:

• M07 & S07 – ACSS reported two months ago that managers and supervisors who supervise investigators in DCA and DOI would receive additional compensation. Pay Letter 17-18 (pages 25-26) officially states the specific amounts of SSAs for Supervising Fraud Investigators of the Department of Insurance and Department of Consumer Affairs to bring the pay differential up to 5% above employees they supervise.
  
  
• BU 10 – On pages 27-28, this pay letter clarifies the GSI amounts for excluded employees associated with Bargaining Unit 10. Specific classifications are listed that detail whether a 2% or a 5% GSI will be given for each classification.
  
  
• S12 – includes SSAs for the CDCR Correctional Plant Supervisor, Correction Plant Manager I and II, Plumber Supervisor, Caltrans Highway Mechanics Supervisor, Mobile Equipment Superintendent I, and Telecommunications Maintenance Supervisor I, II, and III. (See pages 43-44)

Pay Letter 17-18 also includes additional clarification on the General Salary Increases effective July 1, 2017, for Excluded Employees Associated with Bargaining Units 01, 02, 03, 06, 07, 09, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 17, 19 and CBID E and U classes.

ACSS will continue in our efforts to advocate on behalf of our members for fair and equitable salary and benefits.

CalPERS Benefits Education Event in Santa Clara, July 21 & 22

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is hosting a two-day CalPERS Benefits Education Event (CBEE) in Santa Clara this month to inform members about programs and benefits available to them. This event will take place at the Santa Clara Marriott on Friday, July 21, and Saturday, July 22, 2017. The same program is offered on each day, so attendees can select the day they wish to attend.

Whether new to CalPERS, in mid-career, or close to retirement, CBEEs offer all CalPERS members a wealth of information about their retirement and health benefits, supplemental savings plans, long-term care coverage, and more. Representatives from CalPERS Regional Offices will be on hand to answer questions.

Open both Friday and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., the event features breakout sessions specific to both early through mid-career members, and those nearing retirement. Topics to be covered include CalPERS retirement benefits, CalPERS health benefits, and deferred compensation.

For more information and to register for this event, visit https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/education-center/member-education/benefits-education-events.

Excluded Employees Receive Salary Increases Effective July 1, 2017

Late yesterday, CalHR released a Human Resource Manual Update* that provides information about raises for excluded employees. As per our previous news post back in October 2016, excluded employees will receive a General Salary Increase (GSI) effective July 1, 2017, based on the bargaining unit they are affiliated. See the chart below for details:

Salary increases for excluded employees affiliated with Bargaining Unit 5 (Highway Patrol) and Bargaining Unit 8 (Firefighters) will be addressed in future pay letters.

Effective July 1, 2017, most Managerial, Supervisory, and Confidential employees designated E48, E68, E78, E79, E97, E98, and E99 will receive a GSI of four percent (4%).

Exceptions to the salary increases above will be identified in pay letters that will be released in the following weeks.

In addition to the GSI, Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) prefunding will begin. Click here for more information on OPEB for each bargaining unit.

ACSS continues to work hard on your behalf to attain pay parity and fair compensation for all excluded employees. As always, we will provide you with further updates as we receive additional news from CalHR.

*The PML Process has been replaced by the CalHR Human Resources Manual online.

Do the Impending Board of Equalization changes affect you?

Effective July 1, 2017 Assembly Bill 102 will go into effect to create the new California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) and the new Office of Tax Appeals (OTA), dismantling the existing Board of Equalization (BOE). On June 15, 2017, AB 102 passed and was quickly set into motion. The bill basically splits the BOE into three parts:

1. The CDTFA will take over administrating sales tax, business tax, and fee programs such as tobacco and cannabis sales.
2. The OTA will be composed of Administrative Law Judges and will act as California’s tax court, overseeing hearings on tax appeals.
3. The remaining BOE will focus on overseeing property tax, utility tax and taxes on insurers.

This process strips BOE of all of its power. BOE recently underwent a rigorous audit which revealed corruption and inappropriate business practices, creating a climate of fear among state workers. AB 102, endorsed by Jerry Brown, State Controller Betty Yee, BOE Board Member Fiona Ma, Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, promises to create a better system to deal with issues appropriately and to ensure that taxes are fairly collected and managed across the state.

Click here for an FAQ guide on this issue.

According to the Sac Bee, “about 90 percent of BOE’s 4,800 employees are expected to move to the new departments where they will continue to do the same jobs under different leadership.” ACSS will be meeting with CalHR on June 29th, 2017, to discuss the impact on excluded employees. If you have questions or concerns that you would like ACSS to discuss with CalHR on your behalf in regards to this matter, please contact Nellie Lynn, ACSS Assistant Director of Representation, at nlynn@acss.org.

Special Salary Adjustments for Firefighters, Physicians, Dentists and Podiatrists

CalHR released Pay Letter 17-15 and Pay Letter 17-17 which outline Special Salary Adjustments (SSAs) for excluded employees associated with Bargaining Unit 08 and Bargaining Unit 16.

Pay Letter 17-15 (released on June 6, 2017) outlines SSAs for some classes of firefighters in M08 and S08. Classes for Forestry and Fire Protection Administrator, Unit Chief, and Assistant Chief received an additional 1.54% salary increase. Forestry Equipment Managers received an additional 2.3% increase. These SSAs are effective as of January 1, 2017.

Pay Letter 17-17 (released on June 8, 2017) outlines SSAs for some classes of physicians, dentists, and podiatrists in M16, S16 and U16. The following SSAs are effective as of May 2, 2017.

• Chief of Medicine (Veterans Home) – 8.04%
• Chief Medical Officer (Veterans Home) – 8.51%
• Chief Physician and Surgeon – 1.01%
• Public Health Administrator I – 2.96%
• Public Health Administrator II – 7.04%
• Public Health Medical Officers I, II, III – 2.96%
• Medical Consultant II – 2.96%
• Medical Program Consultant – 2.97%

As always ACSS is working hard with CalHR to resolve salary compaction and will continue to bring you updates to additional salary increases as we become aware.

Regional Meeting in Sacramento - IT Classification Consolidation

Charlotte Hoar, ACSS Member Outreach Coordinator, will be holding a special set of meetings in the Sacramento area to address CalHR's Information Technology Classification Consolidation Project on Wednesday, June 14th. 

ACSS Board Member and IT State Supervisor, Michael Bonner, will join us at ACSS HQ (1108 O St.) in the Golden One Conference Room on the Second Floor. You will have a choice to attend one of two sessions. The first session starts at 4:30 p.m. and the second session starts at 6:00 p.m.

The new proposed IT structure will affect 19 excluded IT classifications. These meetings will allow ACSS to give you an update on our efforts on this issue along with answer your questions and receive your feedback so that we can best address your concerns with the state. 

Dinner will be provided to current and potential members who RSVP by Tuesday, June 13th. Please bring a beverage. 

For questions, please contact Charlotte Hoar at choar@acss.org or call (916) 326-4388.

CalHR Assures ACSS that Pay Raises are Coming Soon for Excluded Employees

On May 31, 2017, ACSS met with CalHR to discuss the May Revise of the Budget, raises from Collective Bargaining, pay raises for excluded employees, and consolidation of classifications. In attendance were CalHR Director Richard Gillihan, ACSS Executive Director Rocco Paternoster, ACSS President Frank Ruffino, ACSS Assistant Director of Representation Nellie Lynn, and ACSS Legislative Advocate Ted Toppin. The meeting was productive, positive and informative. After discussing the outcome of the May Revise Budget at length, Gillihan reassured ACSS that the budget contains raises for all excluded employees. Final numbers of how much of a raise has yet to be disclosed. ACSS will know more details about pay raises for excluded employees when the budget comes out of conference and is sent to the Governor’s desk.

ACSS continues to work hard to resolve salary compaction and pay equity for ALL excluded employees. With pay raises from October 2016 and upcoming pay raises in July 2017, ACSS’ efforts are proving to be successful. ACSS President Frank Ruffino noted, "This is the first time in history that excluded employees have received two separate general pay increases within a year. ACSS’ tireless efforts on your behalf have been successful and we anticipate more productive and positive meetings with CalHR in the future.”

ACSS plans to have another meeting with CalHR in August 2017 to resolve even more classes affected by salary compaction.

ACSS Efforts Result in Special Salary Adjustments for Food Administrators and Supervisors of Building Trades

On May 11, 2017, CalHR released Pay Letter 17-13. It authorizes the retroactive rank and file General Salary Increase (GSI) and Special Salary Adjustments (SSAs) for BU12, BU18 and BU19. The Pay Letter also passes on several SSAs to excluded employees in S12 and S19, which addresses salary compaction for some classifications

ACSS has been working hard in collaboration with CalHR to address salary compaction and create a fair differential of pay between excluded employees and those they supervise. Please take special note of the following:

S19 - The Food Administrator I, Correctional Facility (Class 2153) and Food Administrator II, Correctional Facility (Class 2147) are getting a larger SSA than rank and file to address salary compaction, effective January 1, 2017. The SSA for the Food Administrator I brought the pay differential up to 5% over the Registered Dietitians Correctional Facility they supervise. This is a huge improvement from October 2015 when the Food Administrator I’s were upside down and were paid -0.4% less than the Registered Dietitians Correctional Facility they supervise.

S12 – The Supervisor of Building Trades, Correctional Facility (6763) and Electrician Technician Supervisor (6960) are also getting a larger SSA than rank and file to address salary compaction, effective January 1, 2017. This SSA for these classifications also brings the pay differential up to 5% over those they supervise.

ACSS’ efforts have made a huge impact on these classifications to improve their unfair salary differentials. ACSS will keep working with CalHR to resolve salary compaction for many other excluded employees by advocating for a fair and equitable 10% differential. Meanwhile, CalHR continues to follow the administration's directive to establish and maintain a 5% differential. As always, ACSS will provide updates of any new classifications where salary compaction has been addressed.

Governor Brown's "Push Me Pull Me" May Revision of the Budget

Governor Jerry Brown released his May Revise of the Budget on May 11th, 2017. Here, ACSS Legislative Advocate Ted Toppin provides relevant analysis and insight of the May Revise that may be of interest to managers, supervisors and other excluded state employees:

"With the Governor’s release of his May Budget revision yesterday, it was hard not feel as if you were being pushed and pulled in opposite directions. On the one hand, the Governor again highlighted the largest threats to the budget:

• Recession. Our economic expansion is the third longest in California history and a “recession at some point is inevitable.”
• Federal Funding Cuts. The federal government is contemplating “actions that could send the state budget into turmoil.”

In his remarks the Governor went so far as to say “make no doubt about it, cuts are coming in the next few years, and they’ll be big.”

On the other hand, the May revise reports revenues are higher than expected in January and proposes new spending:

• January revenue projections were $5.8 billion short of what was expected. The May revise reports projected revenues have improved by $2.5 billion since then.
• The May revise proposes new spending on K-12 school ($1.4 billion), county IHSS services ($400 million), and continuing state funded childcare ($500 million).

Reducing CalPERS State Pension Liabilities. Perhaps the most important and interesting May revise proposal for state supervisors and managers (indeed all state employees and retirees) was the Governor’s proposal to make an immediate infusion of an additional $6 billion supplemental payment to CalPERS. The money will come as a loan from the Surplus Money Investment Fund. If it works as expected, it really is a clever and innovative approach to reducing the unfunded CalPERS liability for state employees.

According to the May revise “this action effectively doubles the state’s annual payment and will mitigate the impact of increasing pension contributions due to the state’s large unfunded liabilities and the CalPERS Board’s recent action to lower its assumed investment rate of return from 7.5 percent to 7 percent.” After the transfer, the $6 billion will be expected to earn a 7 percent return from CalPERS, compared to the less than 1 percent currently earned from SMIF. Over the next two decades, this supplemental payment will save the state an estimated $11 billion in payments to CalPERS and lower the annual contribution to the fund by an average of 2.1 percent of payroll. The costs associated with the payment will be repaid with Proposition 2’s (rainy day fund) dedicated revenues for long term liabilities.

This proposal and the others in the May revise will now go through review by state legislative budget subcommittees leading up to the state budget approval deadline – June 15. Here is the Governor’s press release from yesterday with a link to the full May revise."

"Know Your Rights" Chapter Meetings Coming Up!

This year, the ACSS Spring 2017 "Know Your Rights" presentation will cover a general overview of the grievance process. Every situation and grievance is unique.  Learn more about different types of grievances, how to file an effective grievance and learn important timelines in the grievance process. Your local ACSS Labor Relations Representative (LRR) will be presenting the material to you at this meeting. Your LRR can answer any questions you may have about the grievance process and your rights as an excluded employee.

>> Click here to find a "Know Your Rights" Chapter meeting in YOUR area!

>> Click here to learn more about past "Know Your Rights" presentations.