Planning for the 2022 A&R Holiday Party is underway!  The party will be held on Friday December 2, 2022 at the Aquaturf in Plantsville (Southington)  (view the flyer). 

This will be an in-person event...for the first time since 2019!  This year's party will have all of the flair of our "old" parties: there will be games, raffles, contests, prizes, photobooth, music/dancing, drinks...and of course a great meal!

To register, you can either complete the flyer and mail a check to the A&R office (or personally drop off the registration form at our office at 805 Brook St, Rocky Hill)...or you can register and pay by credit card online by following this link.

Of course, it wouldn't be an A&R Holiday Party without our annual Toy Drive (food donations and cash donations are also welcome).  Anyone who donates an unwrapped toy, or food, or cash will receive an extra raffle ticket!

Either way, we have a limit of 1,000 guests so don't delay! (registration closes November 22).

Hope to see you there!

UPDATED SCHEDULE OF WALKS (as of October 1, 2022)

Labor 2 Labor walks are a "boots on the ground" door-knocking campaign to support candidates who pledge support to the labor movement.  These walks are only visits to fellow labor union members and they are geared to encourage/remind people to vote in the upcoming election (Tuesday Nov 8, 2022).

To participate in these "get out the vote" campaigns, all you need to do is show up at one of the designated locations and get your street assignment from there.  These walks are held every Saturday from now until election day.  If you have never done a Labor Walk, they sound more intimidating than they are, they are actually quite simple and fun to do (especially on a crisp fall morning).

A&R has also added a little "bonus" incentive to anyone who attends a Labor 2 Labor walk: any A&R member who participates gets a raffle ticket for each walk they attend; we will pick a winner in November for a $250 prize.  Also, anyone who attends three Labor 2 Labor walks will receive an A&R fleece jacket.

This year is especially big for A&R as AFT-CT President Jan Hochadel is running for State Senate in Meriden (A&R is an AFT-CT affiliate)...Jan's pursuit of a State Senate seat is a big deal for the labor movement as the State Senate is nearly split, so anything we can do to support Jan will be hugely beneficial to labor unions in this state.

The Labor 2 Labor walk schedule is attached here...just make sure you identify yourself as A&R (local 4200) when you arrive so we can credit you with a raffle ticket and/or an A&R fleece jacket.

Three agencies continued to misapply the current SEBAC Telework agreement (DOT, DSS, and Office of the Attorney General).  Although we had already prevailed in arbitration on the issue of an agency/unit "cap" on telework, all 3 agencies continued to set some type of "cap" on telework (instead of individual evaluation of telework capabilities).  So A&R, along with other SEBAC unions, again filed a grievance regarding the telework non-compliance by these agencies.  An arbitrator ruled this week that the agencies were in violation of the SEBAC Telework agreement and ordered these agencies to provide a full remedy to the individuals named in the grievance who had appealed their telework denials.  Further, this decision rendered moot a second arbitration that was to take place this week regarding other "caps" instituted by these agencies. 

Impacted employees at the identified agencies should be receiving notification from their agency about the arbitration and their new/improved telework approval.  While this was a SEBAC action, we can't ignore that A&R Chief Steward Patrick Lamb along with A&R steward Sean King were instrumental in the formulation of this arbitration and in prepping witnesses for this action.  It is crucial to prevail in arbitrations during the infancy of a program (such as telework) in order to establish the tone of the program going forward.  Patrick and Sean carefully put together a case necessary to secure a victory and maintain the future of telework for all A&R employees.   -9/9/22

Anyone who received a letter from the Comptroller's Office regarding their HEP Compliance for 2021 needs to resolve any issues by August 31 or be removed from HEP.
Removal from the HEP program includes an additional $100 monthly premium and a deductible of $350 per person (up to $1400).

If you are unsure of which medical visits were missed, log into CTHEP.com (create a log-in/password, if you haven't already done so).  From here, look at the "2021" tab to see what is missing and once that visit is complete you can apply to be re-instated into HEP by submitting the CO-1320 form.

If you completed the required visits but the portal indicates that one of the appointments has not been accounted for, then you can call 1-877-687-1448 or send an email to HEPQuestions@connect2yourhealth.com

Remember, HEP requires certain healthcare exams to be completed during a calendar year based on age and gender, the required exams could be:

• Preventative Visit
• Vision Exam
• Dental Cleanings (once per year)
• Cholesterol Screening
• Mammogram
• Cervical Cancer Screening
• Colorectal Cancer Screening

Additionally, if you have a "chronic condition", then you must complete the eduction portion of HEP annually as well.  The annual education piece can be accomplished through the CTHEP.com portal.  The "chronic conditions" identified for our HEP plan are as follows:

• Asthma
• COPD
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Diabetes
• Heart Failure
• Hypertension
• High Cholesterol

For those who are curious, there has been just over 4500 retirements from State Service so far in 2022 (January 1 thru July 1, 2022); this includes 470 from A&R.  Most of those retirements occured on April 1 & July 1.  We would like to thank all 470 A&R retirees for their years of service and dedication to the people of CT and we wish them well in the next phase of their life.

As you may be aware, our medical plan has something called "Providers of Distinction" whereby utilizing one of the listed facilities/doctors earns you a small cash rebate/reward.  This week, those reward checks were mailed out to roughly 2,000 State Employees, unfortunately, the message associated with those checks was not very clear as to why the check was mailed and the checks looked very "odd" (an example is pictured in the thumbnail).  These checks are legitimate and are related to your use of a Provider of Distinction.  If you receive a check from "Navia Benefit Solutions" it is because you utilized a PoD.  All recipients of the checks will soon receive a follow-up message explaining why they are receiving this check, but it is important that you don't mistake this check for "junk mail", it is legitimate and you can deposit that check safely.

To view the list of Providers of Distinction visit this site: carecompass.ct.gov/providersofdistinction