Geographic pay hiked for Stony Brook RNs

A new geographic-pay plan approved in late September for the 1,300 PEF nurses at SUNY Stony Brook University Hospital goes a long way toward reversing serious pay problems at the Long Island facility.

The plan was proposed by the hospital’s administators in response to PEF’s continuous pressure for substantial improvements to the geographic-pay plan that SUNY put in place this spring.

PEF Division 225 Council Leader Dee Dodson led the nurses in a vigorous campaign to tell hospital managers that the pay fell far short of what they could earn at nearby facilities,

The improved plan OK’d in September means the geographic-pay supplement for the teaching and research (T&R) nurse 2s at the hospital now ranges from approximately $11,000 to $28,000 depending on how many years of acute-care experience they have.

This is a substantial improvement, but T&R nurse 2s still need at least nine years of acute-care experience before they could exceed the flat $12,871 Civil Service rate.

“So, we will continue to press SUNY to ensure that none of our nurses are paid less than nurses at neighboring state facilities,” Dodson said.

— Sherry Halbrook

The Communicator Home Page		 Differentials, upgrades help keep pay fair, competitive

By THOMAS E. CETRINO
PEF members’ salaries may be boosted under state Civil Service Law and/or the PS&T contract.

The state is required to bargain with PEF only over inconvenience pay, recall/on-call pay, and location pay.

Most other pay boosts are authorized by the state director of classification and compensation and the Division of Budget in response to agency requests for help recruiting or retaining staff in specific titles at specific locations where state pay levels are not competitive.

For SUNY’s acute-care staff, such boosts are approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute employees’ pay boosts are approved by the RPCI director of classification and compensation and other managers.

Pay boosts include:
• Geographic Differential — Helps retain staff in a specific title at specific worksites.
• Shift-pay differential — Helps retain staff in certain titles on specific shifts at specific worksites.

• Increased minimum hiring rate — Helps recruit for specific titles at specific locations.

• Inconvenience Pay — Applies to all eligible full-time employees regularly scheduled to work four or more hours between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., exclusive of hours for which overtime is paid.

• Location Pay — Partially offsets higher cost of living for all eligible full-time employees in certain counties.

• On-call/Recall Pay — Compensates all eligible full-time employees when they must be available for recall or to work during off-duty hours.

• Reallocation/Reclassification — Not pay boosts, but ways to ensure a title or position is appropriately classified and allocated to salary grade, especially following significant changes in duties. An agency or an employee may request a position’s reallocation in salary grade or reclassification.

For more details about pay boosts or upgrades, contact your PEF field representative.