8/20/2023 BINGO and Beer at Hops on the Hill (no cost). BINGO starts at 2PM so arrive earlier, limited seating (view flyer) (register online)

9/1/2023 A&R Summer Picnic at LaBella Vista (view flyer) (register online)

10/21/2023 Haunted Happenings - Salem, MA (view flyer) (register online)

11/26/2023 Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular (view flyer) (register online)

12/2/2023 NYC - DoYourOwnThing (view flyer) (register online)

7/10/23 Update  (5/31/23 Original post)

A&R has been working through over 250 Pandemic Pay Appeals and we still have 40 unresolved...for all of those that have been resolved, we are hoping that payment will be in the July 13 paycheck but we cannot guarantee this will be the case. If we have notified you that you are all set, then just know that your payment is pending and if it didn't make it into this paycheck, it should be in the July 27 paycheck; for all other appeals (including those disputing HighRisk/LowRisk), we are still pursuing those appeals and we will let you know when we

-7/6/23

TELEWORK DENIALS and APPEALS:

Telework applications were due back in mid-June and the agency responses are due by July 13.  If you wish to appeal a denial of part/all of your application, we strongly encourage you to do so immediately.  The sooner an appeal is submitted, the sooner it can be brought before the facilitator so a delay in filing the appeal will result in a delay in the resolution.

• Denials of a Telework request should be directed to the Telework Denial Form
• Questions on Telework should be directed to A&R at Telework@andr.org so that we can respond.

-6/29/23

Wage Increase: There will be a General Wage Increase of 2.5% for all employees on Friday June 30, 2023 and will be reflected in your July 27 paycheck. This means all salaries will increase by 2.5%.  The Step increases (or TopStepPayment) will be on December 29, 2023.  Starting in January 2024, A&R will begin negotiations for a 2024 GWI & Step Increase.

Retiree Healthcare Trust Fund (OPEB):  Employees who began making the 3% contributions to the Retiree Healthcare Trust Fund (OPEB on your paystub) back on July 1, 2013 are reaching the end of the 10 year contribution requirement

The A&R website has been upgraded to a new platform, while this upgrade was necessary due to the "end of life" for our prior platform, the transition has created some broken links and missing content.  This will be something we will have to fix over time as we do not know the full impact of the losses here and we will attempt to correct the site as we discover what is missing.  As well, there are some new features to the platform, so you may also see us test out some new things as we go along.

-6/29/23

-5/2/23

Tier IV Retirement Contribution Increase: we are aware that the Comptroller's Office has released guidance to the agencies in preparation for an increase to employee contributions into the Tier IV Defined Benefit portion of their pension plan.  This increase is a one-year increase of 2% and is expected to begin on July 1, 2023 (July 2023 - June 2024). The increase is in response to the pension fund not meeting its goal of a 6.9% investment-on-return.  We acknowledge that the SEBAC agreement governing Tier IV pensions includes this concept of "risk-sharing".  Risk-sharing was