Monday is Labor Day.  It is exactly what it sounds like: it is a day set aside to honor and commemorate all that labor unions have contributed to the work environment.  All of the gains achieved through the labor movement have had such a tremendous, positive, and noteable impact on the wages, hours, and working conditions of this country that this day was created and maintained as a national holiday for over 120 years.  9/1/17

IMPORTANT: DEADLINE OF THURSDAY 9/14

Reduction of Retiree Health Fund Contribution Form (CO-1330 fillable form
Word Version)

Reduction of Retiree Health Fund Contribution Form (CO-1330 pdf version)

Anyone wishing to offset the 1.5% pension contribution increase must complete and submit the attached form NO LATER THAN September 14, 2017 to your Human Resources Department:

If you choose to offset the 1.5% pension contribution, please know and understand how this operates.  While it will provide monetary relief this year, it WILL cost more as the defered contributions MUST be paid back between July

A few updates on our Healthcare plan:

CVS/Caremark Notices On Prescription Formulary:
CVS/Caremark is mailing out notifications regarding changes to covered medications.  These letters were sent to active employees and retirees.  This is inaccurate; retirees (and October 1, 2017 soon-to-be retirees) will not have any changes in the current prescription drug formulary; this will be corrected by CVS/Caremark.

For active employees and those retiring after October 1, 2017, CVS/Caremark is notifying people who take certain medications if their current medication is no longer the preferred covered drug

Update 8/31/17:  A&R has filed a grievance relating to the State’s intention of charging 24hrs of furlough time to employees who leave State service prior to the designated furlough days.  A&R members who are retiring are routinely being told to take the furloughs now b/c the cost of the furloughs will be applied against their final payout regardless.  While many other unions used language that states: “Every member must take 3 furlough days between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018”, A&R did not use that language or anything similar.  As such, A&R does not believe that our contract language

A reminder to anyone registering for college courses this semester that their Tuition Reimbursement forms should be filled out and submitted 2 weeks prior to the start of class.
Tuition Reimbursement Form (CO-101)

Under our new contract agreement, A&R employees have access to $200,000 of Tuition Reimbursement funds for the current fiscal year.  Since there is a cap on our available funds, this Tuition Reimbursement is NOT guaranteed for all employees who submit the paperwork.  Tuition Reimbursement is based on a "first come, first serve" basis; it is important to submit the post-course paperwork