Waiting period reduced for pay increments, bonuses
New agreement benefits teachers, instructors
By SHERRY HALBROOK
If you are a teacher or vocational instructor working a 10-month academic year, you may get some retroactive pay soon, thanks to a new agreement reached between PEF and the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations.
“This agreement resolves the longstanding inequity in performance advances for more than 1,000 PEF members who are 10-month employees,” says PEF President Roger Benson.
These members work primarily at the state Department of Correctional Services and at the Office of Children and Family Services.
The agreement, which is retroactive to the 1999-2000 performance-evaluation year, reduces the eligibility period for performance advances (also called salary increments) by 12 months. So many of these employees are now eligible to receive retroactive payment for missed performance advances.
How it works
The agreement changes the salary-increment system for 10-month employees to eliminate the one-year delay in payment of increments following eligibility.
Previously, a 10-month teacher or instructor working from September 1999 through June 2000 would be paid their salary increment starting September 2001.
Now, that increment will be paid effective September 2000 — a full 12 months earlier. This change is effective with the increments payable September 1, 2000.
The state will send out the retroactive pay adjustments as soon as practicable.
By speeding up the process for moving up the salary steps to the job rate, the new agreement also reduces by one year the time it takes for these members to reach eligibility for performance awards (also called longevity bonuses).
Hard work worth it
“We appreciate the cooperation we received from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) in reaching an agreement that corrects this problem,” Benson says.
He also congratulates PS&T Contract Chair Eric Miller, PEF Region 4 Coordinator David Stallone who is PEF labor-management chair at the state Department of Correctional Services, and PEF Director of Contract Administration Robert Carrothers for their hard work in resolving this inequity.
PEF and GOER already had agreed during negotiation of the 1999-2003 PS&T contract to reduce from two years to 18 months the maximum potential time that 12-month employees would have to wait for payment of their first increment following appointment or promotion.
However, 10-month teachers and instructors in state institutions had to work at least 150 days during the school year to be eligible for an increment or performance advance. It took at least two years from their initial appointment to move up the pay scale. And if they were hired too late in the school year to meet the 150-day requirement, they had to wait two years from the start of the next school year.
“We knew the complexity of the 10-month employees’ increment system required a more careful study than we could give it during contract negotiations,” Benson says. “Accordingly, PEF and the GOER agreed to meet and review this issue after contract negotiations concluded. While it took longer than we had hoped, we are pleased to report a very favorable resolution to the issue.”
More work to do
Other outstanding issues relating to institutional teachers and instructors remain to be resolved. Some of these issues will be brought up in negotiations for the next PS&T contract, Benson says.
Meanwhile, the union has submitted information to the state director of classification and compensation supporting a proposal for comprehensive pay upgrades for these and certain other positions, mainly at the state Department of Correctional Services.
However, the state is not required to negotiate the salary classification of titles with PEF. This issue hinges on how well the state is able to recruit and retain employees in the titles and on the willingness of affected agencies and the state Division of Budget to support upgrades.