CAPS Supervisors Request Meet-and-Confer. CAPS Supervisory Director, Scott Bauer, has requested a meet-and-confer with CalHR surrounding Governor Newsom’s May Revise announcement that the State of California will be looking to find 10% cost savings to employee compensation. CAPS’ rank-and-file Bargaining Team has been meeting with CalHR to discuss how the cost savings may be creatively found. While we stand in solidarity with our rank-and-file, we have inherently different needs as supervisors. Thus far, CalHR has not responded to the meeting request. Stay tuned.
Important Considerations Surrounding Voluntary Personal Leave Program (CalHR Manual, Section 2114). The Voluntary Personal Leave Program allows excluded employees to elect to reduce their pay by 4.62, or 9.24 percent to receive 8, or 16 hours of personal leave per month, respectively. While it is normally a benefit, the program could unnecessarily burden State Scientists due to the impending July 1 employee compensation reductions. Thus, CAPS advocated on behalf of members that CalHR direct Departments to release members from VPLP should they so choose. As a result, CalHR has informed CAPS they are willing to direct Departments to allow Unit 10 employees to cancel their VPLP without requiring it to be within a certain quarter. CalHR noted that the VPLP cancellation would have to be submitted prior to the State Controller’s Office (SCO) deadline which is likely around June 20. CAPS will continue to update the membership with more information as soon as it becomes available. Due to the potential pending salary reductions, if VPLP participants want to cancel their VPLP, they should do so immediately. If you encounter issues canceling your VPLP please contact CAPS as soon as possible.
CalHR Releases Guidance Surrounding Contact Tracing. Governor Newsom announced the new Contact Tracing Program “California Connected” on May 22 which would require Departments to identify 5% of their workforce to dedicate to this program to reach the overall goal of 10,000 contact tracers. Departments immediately started rolling out information and “volunteering” state employees, without a lot of definitive answers on how the program may affect benefits, return rights, and promotional opportunities. On Friday, CalHR released guidance to Departments surrounding the assignment of state employees to contact tracing duties that answered some of these questions. The CalHR document can be found here. CAPS continues to request additional information for members that have voluntarily or involuntarily been redirected.
CAPS Board Meeting Cancelled. The CAPS Board of Directors Meeting for Quarter 2, previously scheduled for June 13, 2020, is canceled to protect the health and safety of meeting participants due to current prohibitions on larger gatherings. The Board did not make this decision lightly and took this action so members did not have to choose between their union duties and their health and safety. At this time, the Board has turned their attention to the pressing matters surrounding Governor Newsom’s May Revise and all avenues available to CAPS in dealing with this new challenge.
Our Quarter 3 Board of Directors’ Meeting remains scheduled for August 22, 2020, at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown-Arena (300 J Street, Sacramento). It is the hope of the CAPS Board of Directors that the threat of the Coronavirus will be alleviated to a point by then to allow for in-person, large group gatherings.
News Briefs
State Workers: Volunteer or Be Reassigned to Virus Response – California needs 10,000 workers to act as contact tracers, but it has only trained about 950. On Tuesday, Gov. Newsom said if state workers don’t volunteer to be contact tracers, they might be temporarily reassigned to the job. The administration has asked state departments to identify 5 percent of employees who could be redirected to contact tracing assignments, Newsom said Tuesday. California employs about 230,000 state workers.
California, DOE Reach Accord on Demolishing Santa Susana Buildings – The Energy Department has reached a deal with the state of California to tear down and remove 10 contaminated buildings at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County. The order was signed last week by DOE Senior Advisor for Environmental Management William (Ike) White and Department of Toxic Substances Control Deputy Director Grant Cope.
CDC Addresses Critical Workers’ Potential Virus Exposure – EHS Today, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a revised interim guidance covering how and when asymptomatic critical infrastructure workers may be allowed to continue working onsite despite exposure to the Coronavirus. The guidance applies to government facilities and employees in law enforcement, hazardous material response, food and agriculture, critical manufacturing, IT, transportation, and energy, among others.