| Agency changed minimum
qualifications for vocational rehab counselors Union charges VESID violated Taylor Law By SHERRY HALBROOK How would you like to be in your job for decades and getting good evaluations only to be told that your employer had decided to change the minimum educational and certification requirements for your job and you no longer qualify? That is the cold shower experienced by many PEF members working as vocational rehabilitation counselors at the state Education Department’s office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID). PEF, which is challenging the change, is still trying to determine how many of the 341 counselors would meet the new minimum qualifications announced by VESID in a November 9, 1999 memo and expanded at a December 9, 1999 teleconference. The counselors would have until December 31, 2005 to meet the new minimum qualifications — a deadline VESID seems to be backing away from since it was challenged by PEF. It appears VESID did not consult with the state Civil Service Department before developing or announcing the new minimum qualifications. VESID said it came up with the stiffer requirements, which were retroactive to October 1, 1999 — a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling and certification by the private, Illinois-based Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification — to meet new federal funding requirements. VESID has obtained a federal grant to help pay educational expenses for affected employees who must earn additional graduate credits to meet the new qualifications. Some progress made After the union met with VESID and state Education Department managers, PEF was told the requirements were being reduced. But members will still be disadvantaged according to PEF attorney Lisa Newmark, who is working with field representative John Connery on the improper practice charge which PEF filed with the state Public Employment Relations Board in Albany. “We are charging that VESID violated the state Taylor Law by changing the terms and conditions of employment for our members without negotiating those changes with us,” Newmark said. As for VESID’s the-feds-made-us-do-it defense, Newmark said she has seen nothing so far from VESID to prove that federal law or regulations require the counselors to have a master’s degree in vocational rehab counseling or certification by the Illinois group. PEF: members still at risk While VESID promised not to fire any of the existing counselors over the new requirements, Newmark was skeptical. She said the abrupt change in requirements could impose a host of hazards and hassles on PEF members who have been doing a terrific job for many years. According to VESID “approximately 50 percent of staff are 50 years old or older.” The agency estimated it will have to hire 150 new counselors over the next five years to replace those who will retire. “Some members could be forced into early retirement,” Newmark said. “In November, VESID surveyed the counselors about their training and asked their age.” PEF is concerned VESID might restrict any financial assistance for graduate courses to younger employees. Even counselors who receive the financial aid might be subject to poor performance evaluations on their jobs if they had to drop a course or could not keep up the academic pace, Newmark said. “Getting a poor job-performance evaluation could deprive you of your performance advance,” she said. Originally, VESID said new hires who get financial aid for taking the courses would have to stay with the agency for a certain time or reimburse it if they left state service before that time was up. In its answer to PEF’s Improper Practice charge, VESID says it has removed this and many other offending requirements. The agency also claims current VESID employees “will not be adversely affected.” The latest minimum quals provided by VESID in response to PEF’s charges appear to still require employees be nationally certified or eligible for it. Those who don’t meet that requirement, must immediately begin an individual training program to help them attain that standard. The situation has improved since last November, Newmark said. “We appreciate Education Department Chief of Staff Richard Cate’s decision to revise the agency’s plan which it had filed with the federal government.” But, she said, VESID still is not complying with the law. “These issues of changing qualifications for incumbents, compensation and benefits are mandatory subjects of bargaining,” Newmark said. “They can’t change them without negotiating those changes with us.” |