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DEBORAH A. MILESPEF members employed at the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) recently won a lawsuit filed by PEF for out-of-title work.
The lawsuit challenged assignments for members to preside as hearing officers over inmate disciplinary hearings.
According to Tom Donahue, PEF’s statewide labor-management chair at DOCS, the assignments have been going on for years. The members involved in the lawsuit are classified as education supervisor, grade 19 and plant superintendent, grade 21.
“In the prison system, officers conduct hearings for inmates who receive tickets. An inmate will receive a Tier 1 ticket for bad behavior. Those who try to escape or incite a riot receive a Tier 3 ticket,” Donahue said. “A hearing is conducted to determine the punishment, such as solitary confinement. It is a court system within the prison system.”
The out-of-title work was caused by a lack of hearing officers and the frequency of the hearings.
“Years ago, there would be a hearing once in awhile. Now it’s daily work,” Donahue said. “DOCS has only a handful of hearing officers in the state.”
PEF Associate Counsel Ed Aluck said the union unsuccessfully filed grievances several years ago challenging the assignments and seeking back pay on behalf of the members.
“In the grievance decisions, the state acknowledged the members performed out-of-title work, but denied they were owed any back pay. So, PEF filed a lawsuit on the members’ behalf in state Supreme Court.” Aluck said. “In 2007, the court ruled in favor of PEF and the employees. The state appealed. Last October, the Appellate Court issued a decision affirming the Supreme Court‘s favorable decision. The Appellate Court’s decision is now final.”
“This is a big win for us,” Donahue said. “The main lesson is persistence. We pushed through various appeals, and finally the lawsuit. We’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time.”
As a result of PEF’s victory, the members involved in the lawsuit will receive back pay at the level of a hearing officer, grade 25, for the days they were required to preside over inmate disciplinary hearings.
But the issue of having PEF members in lower titles be assigned to disciplinary hearings is still ongoing.
Aluck said the Department of Civil Service has revised the job duty descriptions, or classification standards, for some of the PEF titles, including those in the lawsuit over back pay.
In response, PEF has filed a separate lawsuit challenging the revisions. That lawsuit is still pending.
“We expect a final decision from the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to be issued within the next couple of months,” Aluck said.
