FSO has a committee that reviews all placements of new employees. We are trying to capture not only how we currently place employees, but also get ideas on how to amend the placement process in the contract for future employees. Please review a draft and make your comments.
DRAFT GUIDELINES
Guidelines for Salary Schedule Placement and Movement Placement for New Hires 1) Each employee hired after the effective date of adoption of these guidelines shall be placed on the salary
schedule at the step which accurately represents his or prior related experience, as follows: a) Experience credit shall be awarded on a 1:1 basis for each month of experience in:
- i) A permanent, full-time staff position with similar job duties with the NEA or AFT or their affiliated
organizations, a local or state affiliate of the NEA or AFT, or another labor union ii) A permanent, full-time staff position with substantially identical job duties with a state agency or
other employer iii) A full-time release position with similar job duties as an officer or other leader with the NEA or AFT
or their affiliated organizations or a local or state affiliate of the NEA or AFT b) Experience credit shall be awarded on a 2:1 basis (rounding down where applicable) for each month of
experience in: i) A relevant full-time internship or similar job-training program, or a full-time temporary position, with the NEA or AFT or their affiliated organizations or a local or state affiliate of the NEA or AFT ii) A permanent, full-time staff position with substantially similar job duties with a state agency or
other employer iii) A non or partial-release position with similar job duties as an officer or other leader with the NEA or
AFT or their affiliated organizations or a local or state affiliate of the NEA or AFT 2) An employee shall receive one step on the salary schedule for each twelve (12) months of experience
credited according to paragraph (1) above. Any months remaining will be applied towards determining whether the employee shall receive a step increase on the first September 1 following his or her effective date of employment.
Placement for Internal Transfers 1) Any employee of the Association who transfers to a position in a different salary classification shall be
awarded credit for step placement for their months of experience within the Association as follows: a) Transfer from an Associate position to a Professional B position – 3:1 b) Transfer from a Professional B position to a Professional A position – 3:1 c) Transfer from an Associate position to a Professional A position – 9:1 d) Transfer from any higher salary classification to any lower salary classification – 1:1 2) For purposes of this section, a Confidential employee with the Association seeking a bargaining unit position
shall be treated as Professional B, and a Management employee with the Association seeking a bargaining unit position shall be treated as Professional A. 3) An employee shall receive one step on the salary schedule for each twelve (12) months of experience
credited according to paragraph (1) above. Any months remaining will be applied towards determining whether the employee shall receive a step increase on the first September 1 following his or her effective date of employment.
Step Movement 1) Movement to a higher step requires that the individual have at least twelve (12) months of a combination of experience in their current position with the Association and credited experience for a previous position which were not used for salary placement.
Implementation 1) Any current employee who believes he or she would have a higher step placement as of March 1, 2019, had the guidelines described above been in effect at the time of his or her hire or transfer, may submit a request for a review of their step placement to the Placement Review Committee by August 31, 2019. 2) The Association shall provide the Placement Review Committee with the resume and any other relevant
documents in its possession of any candidate seeking a review of their step placement. It is the responsibility of the candidate to provide the Committee with any other documents he or she feels are relevant. 3) Upon approval by the Placement Review Committee, such employees may receive movement of up to three
(3) steps on the salary schedule, effective March 1, 2019. No retroactive payments for such step movement beyond March 1, 2019, shall be awarded. Eligibility to receive longevity pay shall count as an additional step beyond step 12 for purposes of this movement. 4) No newly hired employee shall be placed ahead of a current employee with similar experience. In the event
that a newly hired employee after March 1, 2019, would receive a higher step placement under the guidelines above than a current employee with similar previous experience, the Placement Review Committee shall determine whether the current employee(s) must receive additional steps to achieve parity with the new hire or the new hire shall have his or her experience capped to achieve parity with the current employee(s).
Comments It is the intention to apply the term “similar” to an employee’s experience within reason, but broadly. For example:
- In a local-option service unit with many field staff, some may specialize in some aspects of field work rather than being generalists. A newly hired state-option service unit director coming from a local- option service unit should receive full credit for experience regardless of whether they were a specialist or generalist in their previous job assignment except under extraordinary circumstances. For instance, such an employee should not be denied credit for coming from a local that has a history of either not going to impasse/arbitration or farming out the work of impasse/arbitration to FEA Legal Services.
- For similar reasons, employees transferring from other state affiliates into a position in FEA in the same or a very similar department should generally be awarded experience credit on a 1:1 basis even if the particular job duties are not identical.
- In some locals, officers and other leaders are heavily involved in the local’s bargaining, grievance, organizing, political work, communications, and other programs that are often within the scope of staff work assignments in other locals. Where a newly hired professional staff has demonstrably made significant contributions to the local’s work in areas related to the staff position he or she is hired into (e.g., acting as chief negotiator, directing various political programs, engaging in significant member representation and other day-to-day labor relations duties), this experience should be credited accordingly (1:1 for doing so in a full-time release position, 2:1 otherwise).