Three Legislative Updates

-Updated 4/12/23 - The Pandemic Pay Award passed the full Senate floor vote.  The Pandemic Pay award had a provision that the payment was to be paid within 90 days, so expect a further update soon.  If you want to assess your personal Pandemic Pay award, the calculations are as follows (remember, you must meet the minimum threshold of 180 hours)

High Risk employees (employees who were first responders, worked in congregate settings, or worked in a healthcare facility).
For employees in the High Risk environment the Pandemic Pay formula is as follows:  $250 for the first 180hrs of Regular work and an additional $136 for each 100hrs of Regular work beyond that (must reach that 180hrs to qualify).
The High Risk Overtime formula is: $270 for the first 200hrs of OT and then an additional $136 for each 100hrs of OT above that (must reach that 200hrs of OT to qualify).

Low Risk employees (are all other employees who were required to work in person).
For employees in the Low Risk environment the Pandemic Pay formula is as follows:  $125 for the first 180hrs of Regular work and an additional $68 for each 100hrs of Regular work beyond that (must reach that 180hrs to qualify).
The Low Risk Overtime formula is: $135 for the first 200hrs of OT and then an additional $68 for each 100hrs of OT above that (must reach that 200hrs of OT to qualify).

-Updated 4/5/23 - The Pandemic Pay Award passed the full House floor vote 129-15 with 7 Absent...Full Senate vote is expected the 2nd week of April.
-Updated 4/3/23
- 3/31/23

We haven't put much emphasis on the current Legislative session, however, there are a couple of updates that are impactful for A&R members:

First: the Pandemic Pay award passed the House and Senate votes in the Appropriations Cmte (the House had only 1 "nay" vote and the Senate had only one "nay" vote).  We are now expecting that this will go to a full floor vote on Wednesday 4/5/23 (that's 2 days after UConn wins the National Championship!!)...to support this bill, all State Employees are encouraged to sign on to this "ActionNetwork" letter and let your Representatives know that you want them to support the passing of this arbitration award...to sign this letter, simply follow this link

Second: a bill has come out of the GAE Committee which would exempt from FOI disclosing the residential addresses of all employees of the Attorney General's Office.  This Bill was initiated by Attorney General William Tong and fully supported by our sister union ACAAG (which covers the Assistant Attorneys Generals).  This bill, if passed and signed, would cover all employees within the OAG and prevent the public release of residential information.

Third:  AFT-CT has 2 "Meet your Legislator Events Upcoming".  These are neat events where several Legislators from the region come and sit at table with State Employees and can just talk about any topic they wish. There is an event at Margaritas in East Hartford on Saturday April 1 from 12:30 to 2:30 and another at Lakeview in Coventry on April 15 from 12:00 to 2pm.  To attend, AFT-CT asks that you pre-register so they can order enough food for the event, follow this link to register

 

Winter Weather Follow-up

-3/24/23

Yesterday, many agencies sent out a "reminder" guidance regarding time-sheet coding for the snow day.  A&R wants to let everyone know that we stand by our assessment of our contract language and the Telework language which states if you were scheduled for an "in-office" day when the buildings were closed you cannot be compelled to telework nor would Vac/PL be charged...Despite the clear language and the several areas in our contract which we cover this topic, the State's directive was to Telework if possible or charge Vac/PL.  So if you were denied LWGOV and were therefore forced to use Vac/PL time to cover the day, A&R has filed the grievance to recover this charge.  It is also our intention in the grievance to address the issue of those who were scheduled to be in-office but felt compelled to telework based on the agency directive to do so.  There is no further update on this issue, simply, the State re-issued its guidance to employees so we wanted to ensure the A&R membership that we continue to assert that this is incorrect guidance and that we have filed the grievance reflecting that assessment.

Pandemic Pay

-3/10/23

The unions of SEBAC prevailed at an arbitration on "Pandemic Pay".  Funding was set aside a couple of years ago for those employees who were required to report to their work site to meet the needs of the State during the "Stay home, Stay Safe" period declared by the Governor.  This funding was a combination of State and Federal funds specifically to compensate employees for  the added COVID risk they were subjected to while keeping State government operational.  There was already a program for private-sector workers in the same fashion which excluded State employees.

The arbitration was about how best to allocate the available funds to the employees impacted; there was not a question of whether Pandemic Pay was available but rather how would that Pandemic Pay be distributed to the employees who could not be assigned to 100% Telework during the Stay Safe/Stay Home period.  The State and the Unions could not agree on the proper allocation formula and ultimately the arbitrator made the decision after hearing from both parties.

This arbitration award still needs legislative approval (requiring a 2/3 vote to veto this however)

Here are the basics of the arbitration award: 

  • The period of time considered the "Stay Home/Stay Safe" period are the 53 weeks between March 20, 2020 and March 27, 2021 (this is the period of time that will be evaluated for Pandemic Pay)
  • All employees on the payroll as of 9/15/2022 or who retired prior to that date are eligible for this (those who left State service but did not retire are not eligible).
  • Only hours actually worked qualify for the calculation (unless you had COVID for more than 3 consecutive weeks during that time-frame)
  • There are two levels of compensation High Risk & Low Risk work.  Within those 2 groups there is compensation for "Regular" hours of work and then additional compensation for Overtime hours (if you earned CompTime, those are still overtime hours and they count towards the Overtime formula).

High Risk employees (employees who were first responders, worked in congregate settings, or worked in a healthcare facility).

For employees in the High Risk environment the Pandemic Pay formula is as follows:  $250 for the first 180hrs of Regular work and an additional $136 for each 100hrs of Regular work beyond that (must reach that 180hrs to qualify).
The High Risk Overtime formula is: $270 for the first 200hrs of OT and then an additional $136 for each 100hrs of OT above that (must reach that 200hrs of OT to qualify).

Low Risk employees (are all other employees who were required to work in person).

For employees in the Low Risk environment the Pandemic Pay formula is as follows:  $125 for the first 180hrs of Regular work and an additional $68 for each 100hrs of Regular work beyond that (must reach that 180hrs to qualify).
The Low Risk Overtime formula is: $135 for the first 200hrs of OT and then an additional $68 for each 100hrs of OT above that (must reach that 200hrs of OT to qualify).

View the Language Governing Pandemic Pay

View the Arbitration Award

View the SEBAC-provided FAQs

Running For Local Office

If you are thinking that it is time for you to run for local office but aren't sure how to go about it?  Let the CT AFL-CIO help you out (as a member of A&R, you are a member of the AFL-CIO as well).

The CT AFL-CIO hosts a training session for union members called: Path to Power which will guide you through the process of running for local office.

This year's session will be held on April 22nd in New Britain and it is free (certain restrictions apply if you have already declared candidacy).  Follow this link to register!

TELECOMMUTING and WINTER WEATHER

UPDATE: 2/27/23 9:15PM

The Governor has released a statement (posted here) closing all state office buildings and he is directing "all Level 2 state employees who are able to telework shall telework for the duration of the related closures"...THIS IS NOT THE TELEWORK POLICY...so we will re-iterate your actual rights and the proper way to approach the office closing:

If you were normally scheduled to telework on Tuesday 2/28/23 you are expected to telework as normal.  Under the terms of the Telework Agreement Section 8.3.2, if you were expected to be in the office on 2/28/23 then you cannot be compelled to telework.  The language from the Agreement reads as follows, it is the final sentence that is key:

8.3. LATE OPENING, EARLY DISMISSAL, AGENCY CLOSURE

8.3.1.If a situation arises at the teleworker ís official duty station that interferes with the ability of non-teleworking employees to work at the official duty station (e.g. power failure, weather conditions, lack of heat in the office building; etc.) while the teleworker is working at his /her telework location, the teleworker is not excused from duty for this period of time as he/she would not be affected by these conditions.

8.3.2.In addition, teleworkers may be requested to telework on non-telework days as operational needs dictate or in the event of an emergency (e.g. power outage, flooding/water damage at official duty station etc.). Acceptance of such request shall be at the option of the employee.

Posted Earlier on 2/27/23

We are posting this information in anticipation of the winter weather event expected Monday night into Tuesday, February 27/28.

A reminder to those who are scheduled to telecommute during a major winter weather event does not automatically impact your work day. As a general rule, if you have the capability to telework and you were pre-scheduled to telework during the weather event, you should do so, regardless of the impact the weather event has on office operations.

  • If you are scheduled to telework, telework, regardless of the weather event's impact on office operations
    • If you are scheduled to telework, and circumstances prevent you from teleworking (ie: loss of power), notify your agency as soon as practicable
       
  • If you are scheduled to work in-office on the day of a weather event, act safely:
    • Up to one of hour of lateness due to hazardous driving conditions shall not be charged provided that you arrive within an hour of the start of your shift
    • Up to a total of 2.5 hours may be excused in exceptional circumstances (due to severity of conditions; however, your delayed arrival may be compared with that of other employees faced with similar circumstances)
    • If you are late in excess of 2.5 hours (or more than 1 hour late and absent exceptional circumstances), you must opt to either make up the excess time or charge your leave balances
    • If there is a Governor declared late opening, report to work at the Governor declared start time
    • You cannot be compelled by management to telework if you were scheduled in office
      • management may ask you to telework on such a day
      • acceptance of such a request is at your option

Consider it this way: shift cancellations, late openings, and early dismissal decisions are largely made with safety in mind to keep us off of the roads during hazardous conditions.  Those hazardous conditions will not be encountered by telecommuters.  Thus, if you are scheduled to telework, telework.......

We also want to remind those deemed "essential" for snow storms (and thus required to leave your home to report to work during a Governor's closing of the offices) qualify for compensatory time. [Appendix A of contract; Agreement on Final Telework Policy, section 8]

Click here for LATE OPENING/EARLY RELEASE NOTIFICATIONS

 

General Updates January 23, 2023

TELEWORK DECISIONS AND APPEALS

Telework Decisions should have been released at this point.  If you are going to file an appeal then do not delay; a delay in filing the appeal will move you further down the list for review.
Here are the 3 basic scenarios and what you should do:

  • If you were denied your telework request of 80% or less Telework, please ensure that you quickly file your appeal using this link.  Continue to TW at the level deemed acceptable (or the TW schedule you had last year [whichever is better])
  • If you requested to increase your Telework but have not receieved a response from the agency, then treat that as a denial and quickly file your appeal using the same link as above.  While your appeal is pending, continue to do your current Telework schedule.
  • If you requested the same amount of telework but have not received a response from the agency, simply keep doing your current TW schedule and there is no need to file an appeal.

NEW (AND MUCH IMPROVED) AFAO JOB SPEC
Anyone in the "Fiscal" series knows that we have had an issue with the "Associate Fiscal Admin Officer" job spec for quite some time; mainly that this job title should have been an Advanced Working Level/Lead title but was instead used as a Supervisory title...after several years of pressing this issue, it has finally been changed!  View the new (and improved) AFAO job spec.

This is huge for anyone in the Fiscal job series.  The gist of the change is that the AFAO title no longer requires supervisory responsibility; it is now a working lead/advanced working level position as it should have been.  This will now allow many FAOs to progress to the AFAO title where their responsibilities are vast even if they do not have staff to supervise. 

VACATION ACCRUAL RATE FOR THOSE WITH PRIOR STATE SERVICE
Under our new contract, there was a change to Article 12 Section 7 which now grants credit for prior state service towards determining your vacation accrual rate.  If you have prior State Service and that time was pensionable, it will count towards determining when you move up to the next level for vacation accrual (Note: if you are already earning 13.33hrs/mo then this change will not impact you, you are already at the top accrual rate).  However, and this is big: it is the responsibility of each individual to notify HR that they have prior state service.  While our hope was to have this process automated, this was not possible.  Therefore,  if you have prior, pensionable time in State Service and are accruing at less than 13.33hrs/month, then it is your responsibility to notify HR so they can identify the records and make the adjustment to your vacation rate, if appropriate.  This will only be retro-active to the June 1, 2022 accruals, it will not be an adjustment to your accrual rate prior to June 1, 2022.

STEPS AND TOP STEP PAYMENTS
The December 30th Step Increase/Top Step Payment will be reflected in this week's paycheck.  To find your new rate or TSP, folllow this link.  Those on the AR2 payplan will recieve a 3% Annual Increment.  Those who were first hired after July 1, 2022 were (most likely) not eligible for a Step Increase on December 30.  Those in 2-year training classes receive their increment on their 1 year anniversary rather than the schedule for permanent employees.

TELECOMMUTING AND WINTER WEATHER
A reminder to those on telecommuting schedules that major winter weather events do not automatically impact your work day.  As a general rule, if you have the capability to telework during the weather event, you should do so, regardless of the impact the weather event has on office operations.  Consider it this way: shift cancellations, late openings, and early dismissals decisions are  usually made with safety in mind to keep us off of the roads during hazardous conditions.  Those hazardous conditions will not be encountered by telecommuters.  We also want to remind those deemed "essential" for snow storms (and thus required to leave your home to report to work during a Governor's closing of the offices) qualify for compensatory time.
[Appendix A of contract; Agreement on Final Telework Policy, section 8]