 Award worth up to $1.75
million
Arbitrator:
State owes PEF members retroactive benefits
By SHERRY HALBROOK
The state’s payment of retroactive PS&T contract
benefits was a lot more than just a day late and a dollar
short. An arbitrator has ruled employees must receive the
full value of the benefits PEF negotiated.
On February 12, arbitrator Tia Schneider Denenberg
ordered the state to pay PS&T employees for
retroactive standby on-call benefits and overtime meal
benefits under the current contract.
“This is the second largest arbitration award in PEF
history. Thousands of our eligible members will receive
retroactive payments. We estimate the total value of the
award at $1.25 million to $1.75 million,” said PEF
President Roger Benson.
The award stems from a contract grievance PEF filed
September 27, 2000, charging that the state was tardy in
implementing these two enhanced benefits under the
1999-2003 contract.
PEF successfully argued the benefits enhancements should
be retroactive to the first day of the agreement —
April 2, 1999. When the state announced it would make the
enhancements retroactive to April 2, 2000, for the
standby on-call benefit (contract Article 31) and August
2000, for the overtime meal allowance (Article 38), PEF
grieved the contract violation.
Standby on-call pay
PEF had negotiated a higher rate of extra pay in the
1999-2003 contract for PS&T employees who are
required to be available for immediate recall and
prepared to return to duty within a limited time. The new
contract raised the rate of pay from 15 percent to 20
percent of their daily rate of pay.
“If you received standby on-call pay between April
1, 1999 and April 1, 2000, the state underpaid you for
that time and it will have to pay you the difference
now,” said PEF Director of Contract Enforcement
Robert Carrothers. “And if you worked overtime
during pay periods when you were on call, that overtime
pay was based on the wrong rate and the state will have
to pay you the difference.”
OT meal
allowance
The 1999-2003 contract contains two PEF-negotiated
enhancements to the overtime meal allowance benefit.
The benefit, which was previously restricted to overtime
ineligible employees, was expanded to include overtime
eligible employees as well.
And a second meal allowance was added for employees who
work longer amounts of overtime in a day — at least
six hours of OT beyond their regular eight-hour shift on
a regularly scheduled workday, or at least nine hours on
a pass day.
“It’s going to be more difficult to identify
everyone who should have received these meal allowances
between April 1, 1999 and August 10, 2000 for the
state’s institution payroll or August 17, 2000 for
the administration payroll,” Carrothers said.
“However, this decision requires the state to do
that.”
Still working
out details
Details on how this decision will be implemented will be
posted on the PEF Website at www.pef.org when the union
receives it. PEF will also distribute it to the PEF
Executive Board and division leaders.
According to PEF associate counsel Elizabeth Hough, who
argued this case for PEF, it is unlikely the state could
overturn this decision on appeal. However, if the state
does appeal, it would delay the overdue payments even
longer.
“If they appeal, we will continue in our fight until
our members get every penny we negotiated for them,”
said Benson, who thanked Carrothers, Hough, “and the
entire 1999 contract team for delivering these
benefits.”
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COMMUNICATOR HOMEPAGE
Inside This Issue:
Features
New pact ends 20 years of
sick-leave inequity
PEF wins $1.75 million for
members
Downstate members to save on
fares
Stay in the know with
contract talks
Early Retirement window is
closing fast
Budge
Breakdown
PEF fires back against
proposed budget
Program, job cuts in
proposed state budget
• Office of Mental Health
(OMH)
• OMRDD
• Office of Children
and Family Services (OCFS)
• Transportation Department (DOT)
• Office of General Services (OGS)
• ENCON
• Education Department (SED)
• VESID
• Health Department (DOH)
• Department of
Corrections Services
• Division of Parole (DOP)
• Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV)
Departments
President's Message:
Stopping job-killing layoffs
You Said It: Member's
letters this month
Health & Safety: Working
conditions symposium
Member Mobilization:
Exposing weakest links
Nurses' Station: LobbyDay
plans for May 5th
Health Notes: Expanded
coverage for women
Retirees In Action:
Death-benefit coverage
PEF Membership Benefits
Program & Travel Corp
Union Matters
DVD on members’
accounts of workplace violence
Hidden talents emerge among
members
State AFL-CIO offers
scholarship
Election Board meeting
DCAAccount user? File IRS
form 2441
2003-2006 Elections
Corrected Definitions
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