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COMMUNICATOR HOMEPAGE
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| Out-of-title work hurts us To the Editor: It’s time for PEF to enforce the contract, the Civil Service Law and court rulings. Two senior corrections counselors at Elmira Correctional Facility have volunteered for tier 3 hearing officer duties in violation of PS&T Contract Article 17, state Civil Service Law, and decisions of the NYS Supreme Court and Appellate Division. Several other senior corrections counselors in the state also are performing this out-of-title duty, thereby depriving others of state jobs or promotions. Working out-of-title gives these employees an unfair advantage toward promotion and administrative favors at the expense of others who refuse to violate the contract, law and courts. We need to protect PEF members’ rights as defined in the contract, law and court orders. There are also still numerous PEF Step 3 grievance appeals, including some on this issue, that have been awaiting decisions at the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations for more than six months; do something please! LARRY J. WOODWARD Elmira Support pension tier reform To the Editor: A Tier 2 member with 30 years service earning $50,000 will receive $1,200 less per year for life than Tier 1, 3 and 4 members at the same salary. Persons earning $75,000 to $90,000 will receive approximately $2,000 less per year — that’s $50,000 less over a 25-year retirement. It was determined that as of April 1, 1972, accrued vacation pay would no longer be allowed in calculating workers’ final average salaries. However, as of July 27, 1976 (the beginning of Tier 3), this was reversed. But, it was never changed back for the group hired in the interim period, April 1, 1972, through July 26, 1976. Today, persons hired before or after that period are allowed credit for accrued vacation, and only the group hired during the period are not. Bills were proposed last year to restore the benefit to Tier 2 (S.2361/A.4381) and Tier 1 (S.1345/A.2060) members hired after April 1, 1972. They never reached the floor of the Legislature for a vote because we, the affected members, were not vocal enough in our support. Tier 2 members: You must contact your elected representatives immediately. Push them to reintroduce and support passage of these bills. Do not wait for someone else to do it. Our elected representatives understand numbers, and if the thousands affected write or call we can get these important bills through. You must act now. Unless we get the bills moving through the process early, they may get lost in the shuffle and fail to pass again this year. JAMES CARROLL Cohoes Fell through pension ‘crack’ To the Editor: Your response to the letter in the December-January issue of The Communicator, regarding efforts to get service credit for employees hired between July 1976 and October 1990, hints at a potential problem. I was hired by the state Office of Mental Health June 3, 1976, and became permanent during September 1976. Several years later, with no break in service, I was informed the state Retirement System had never received my application for membership and I did not have retirement status. Eventually I was placed in Tier 3, and am now paying arrears. I have contributed to the Retirement System for more than 20 years. If legislation is passed using a start date of July 1976, it appears I would be improperly excluded from any remedy. Other employees hired shortly before the proposed cut-off date of July ’76 may also be excluded. JIM DAMICO Long Island Editor’s note: Bills S.5604/A8875-A, which were introduced in the 2002 state legislative session, would apply to employees whose “date of membership” in the NYS and Local Employees Retirement System is after July 26, 1976 (the date Tier 3 began) and who have contributed for more than 10 years. Under this legislation, anyone in Tier 3 or 4 would receive one month of additional service credit for each year he has contributed in excess of 10 years. PEF is attempting to have this legislation reintroduced in the 2003 legislative session. The Communicator Letters policy We welcome letters to the editor about union issues and events relevant to PEF's diverse membership. All letters are subject to editing for space, fairness and good taste. Please keep them brief (up to one page, double-spaced or a maximum of 250 words), and please include your name and phone number for verification. Send letters to: The Communicator Public Employees Federation P.O. Box 12414 Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414 email Denyce Duncan Lacy, Executive Editor The Communicator - Director of Public Relations dduncanlacy@pef.org Sherry Halbrook, Editor of The Communicator- shalbrook@pef.org |
