MEMORANDUM

TO:Cabinet Secretaries, Agency Heads and Departmental Human Resources, Labor Relations Directors, Payroll and Budget Staff, with Employees in Bargaining

Unit 9

FROM:Ruth N. Bramson, Chief Human Resources Officer

ISSUED IN CONJUNCTION WITH:

David E. Westervelt, Budget Director

Martin Benison, Comptroller

DATE:October 5, 2005

SUBJECT:Implementation of the July 1, 2003 – June 30, 2006

Commonwealth – MOSES Unit 9 Collective Bargaining Agreement

1

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On April 15, 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts signed a labor agreement with the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists (MOSES) Unit 9, for the period July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2006. On September 30, 2005, an appropriation of funds was approved to cover the fiscal year 2005 and 2006 incremental costs of items contained in the Agreement (Chapter 106 of the Acts of 2005) for budgetary employees. This memorandum authorizes the implementation of the economic provisions of the new agreement effective January 9, 2005, unless otherwise indicated. Information and implementation instructions from the Human Resources Division (HRD), the Office of the Comptroller (OSC), and Executive Office of Administration and Finance (ANF) are provided below.

A copy of the new agreement and this implementation memorandum will be posted on HRD’s website ( as soon as administratively feasible.

INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION

Summary of Changes and Policy Information

The following changes apply to employees in bargaining unit 9. For employees in confidential positions who would otherwise be included in this unit, or for intermittent or short-term employees who are incumbents of positions in titles assigned to this unit, please refer to the section entitled Confidential, Intermittent or Short-Term Employees at the end of this memorandum.

Article 4, Section 1:Agency Fee

Amended to enumerate and better define the costs that are excluded in the calculation of agency fee.

Article 4, Section 5:Agency Fee

This new Section ensures that members are entitled to union representation regardless of their dues-paying or agency fee-paying status.

Article 8, Section 1C:Sick-in-Family Leave

Effective August 1, 2005, the maximum amount of sick leave that an employee may use for sick-in-family purposes is reduced from sixty (60) days to thirty (30) days per calendar year. An employee may utilize this leave to care for the spouse, child, foster child, step-child, parent of either the employee or his/her spouse, step-parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, person for whom the employee is legal guardian, or a seriously ill relative living in the immediate household.

Article 8, Sections 7.2 and 12 Family and Medical Leave

The maximum number of weeks an employee may utilize for Family Leave or Medical Leave per twelve (12) month period is reduced from fifty-two (52) weeks to twenty-six (26) weeks. An employee on a Family Leave or Medical Leave of greater than twenty-six (26) weeks that was approved prior to August 1, 2005 is permitted to continue such leave beyond twenty-six weeks, as originally approved. However, at the discretion of the Appointing Authority, employees may be granted extensions of that leave when appropriate.

Article 11, Section 1:Mileage Reimbursement

Effective July 10, 2005, the mileage reimbursement rate is increased to thirty cents ($0.30) per mile for authorized travel related to an employee’s employment. Under a separate Memorandum of Understanding effective September 12, 2005, the mileage reimbursement rate is increased to forty-cents ($0.40) per mile for authorized travel related to an employee’s employment.

Article 11, Section 1:Parking and Tolls Reimbursement

Effective July 10, 2005, reimbursement for reasonable employee parking and toll costs commences. Employees should utilize the existing mileage reimbursement form, together with parking/toll receipts, to receive reimbursement for authorized parking/toll expenses incurred while in the performance of their job duties.

Since this provision is intended to cover a wide variety of situations (from cities and towns across the state to, and even within, Boston) it is impractical to specify dollar limits for what constitutes "reasonable" parking rates. Managers will have to administer this benefit by relying on their knowledge of parking costs within their area and using their discretion to decide when an employee is requesting reimbursement for costly parking when more affordable parking is available. For example, in Boston, an employee should not be reimbursed for the full rate of parking at the Center Plaza garage (adjacent to the McCormack Building) when lower cost parking is available within reasonable walking distance at the Boston Common garage. If the employee wants to park at the Center Plaza garage they may, but he/she should not be reimbursed at more than the Boston Common garage rate.

Article 12, Section 1:Salary Rate Increases

See AppendicesA1-A3

  • Effective January 9, 2005, base salary rates are increased by 2%.
  • Effective January 9, 2005, implementation of a 2% classification pool for selected titles (See attachment D, listing affected titles and their new job grade level).
  • Effective July 10, 2005, base salary rates are increased by 2%.
  • Employees who received a “Below” EPRS rating on their annual performance evaluation for Fiscal Year 2004, are not eligible to receive the salary rate increase(s) effective January 9, 2005, or any step increase(s). Employees who receive a “Below” EPRS rating on their annual performance evaluation for FY 2005 and beyond, are not eligible to receive any salary rate increase, effective July 10, 2005, or step increases, until their performance is rated “Meets” expectations. (For more detailed information see Article 24A, Section of the Commonwealth/MOSES collective bargaining agreement).
  • Employees whose FY 2004 or FY 2005 performance was not evaluated shall not be denied the increase(s) or retroactive payment(s).
  • Employees on leave of absence as of July 1, 2003, shall also receive the increase(s) and retroactive payment(s), except for employees on so-called “leave from owned” status, as of July 1, 2003.

Employees who meet the eligibility requirements, as specified in Article 12 of the Agreement, will receive the January 9, 2005, and the July 10, 2005, salary rate increase with their pay advice, issued Friday, October 21, 2005. This payment will also reflect any increased base salary percentages associated with titles scheduled for classification pool increases.

Attached hereto, (Attachment A) is a memorandum notifying employees that the pay advices they receive on October 21, 2005, contains the new salary rate effective January 9, 2005, inclusive of any base salary percentage increase associated with titles scheduled for classification pool increases and the July 10, 2005 increase. Please distribute a copy of the memorandum attached to each employee receiving the above referenced payments.

Article 13A, Section 2:Health and Welfare Fund

Effective July 10, 2005, the Employer contribution rate will be increased to $10.00 for each full-time equivalent, per calendar week.

Article 18, Section 4: Layoff and Recall

The layoff and bumping procedures have been amended affecting the rights of a laid-off employee in the event of a reduction-in-force. Please see the contract language and direct any inquiries to the appropriate OER contact.

Article 23A, Section 16:Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

The Commonwealth will pay all costs incurred for selected arbitrators for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to be scheduled an average of one day per month, up to $20,000.00, for the life of the agreement.

Employees in Confidential Positions and Intermittent, or Short-Term Employees

In accordance with Section 46 of Chapter 30 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the January 9, 2005 and July 10, 2005 salary rate increases, as well as any classification pool upgrading for members of collective bargaining unit 9 will apply to employees in confidential positions who would otherwise be included in this collective bargaining unit and to intermittent and short-term employees who are incumbents of positions in titles assigned to this collective bargaining unit.

The January 9, 2005 and July 10, 2005 salary schedules for unit 9 are attached hereto.

Questions regarding the above provisions of the new Agreement should be directed to Matthew Hale, Assistant Director, HRD/Office of Employee Relations, at (617) 878-9795. Questions regarding the applicability of these provisions to confidential, intermittent or short-term employees should be directed to Sally McNeely, Director, HRD/Organizational Development Group at (617) 878-9726.

HR/CMS INSTRUCTIONS

All of the steps below will be automated in HR/CMS as outlined in the pay periods specified, except as noted:

HRD/ITD will provide departments with both predictive (report only-prior to the actual update) and updated (update-after the actual program runs) reports that will facilitate the identification of Bargaining Unit 9 employees as follows:

  • PPED 10/15/05: Base salary rates are increased to reflect the 2% increase for January 9, 2005, and a 2% salary rate increase July 10, 2005. In addition, employees in select titles (See Attachment D) will receive their classification pool upgrade compensation, effective January 9, 2005.
  1. On 10/05/05, all eligible BU 9 employees will have a row inserted into their job record with an effective date of 10/02/05 and an action/reason of Pay Rate Change/COL (Cost of Living).
  2. On 10/07/05, all eligible BU 9 employees in classification pool titles will have a row inserted into their job record with an effective date of 10/02/05, effective sequence 1, and an action/reason of Pay Rate Change/ADJ (Pay Adjustment). Employees occupying Civil Engineer I titles will be reclassified one (1) grade in addition to receiving a class pool increase. Additionally, the job code will change from E18Y01 to E19Y01. Employees in the reclassified and class pool titles will retain their most current step date for future step date purposes.
  3. Vacant and occupied positions, with titles in the classification pool will have a row inserted with an effective date of 10/02/05 and reason code UPD (Update Position Data) to update the position information.
  4. On 10/06/05, a COLA report (HMCMP03B) will be available in document direct (no predictive COLA report).
  5. On 10/06/05, a predictive classification pool report (HMCMP01B) will be available in document direct. On 10/10/05, the updated classification pool report (HMCMP01B) will be available.
  6. Departments should review and validate the predictive and updated reports. Employees with “below” EPRS ratings, salary exceptions, or those that were “not updated” will need to be manually adjusted.
  7. Departments must make any necessary changes to the position and/or job record by the close of business Friday, October 14, 2005. In some cases it may be necessary for agencies to contact their HRD analyst for position or job record corrections.
  8. All eligible employees will receive the payment for the January 9, 2005 increase, as well as any classification pool compensation, and the July 10, 2005 increase, in their pay advice on Friday, October 21, 2005.

The Comments on the COLA report are defined as follows:

Salary Exception: Employees salary does not match current rate for their grade and step

Has Future Row: Employee has a row in job with effective date of 10/02/05 or greater.

Invalid Step: Current step is not valid for the current salary chart.

Future Dated Row: Employee was not in the plan before the COLA and has a row in job with an effective date of 10/02/05 or higher.

The Comments on the Reclassification report are defined as follows:

Vacant Position: Vacant position data was successfully updated.

Step Was: Employees prior step was #. Job record was successfully updated.

Civil Serv – Step was: Employee owns a civil service title. Prior step was #. Job record was successfully updated.

Step Remains: Employee will remain at step 1.

  • PPED 10/29/05: All eligible employees in BU 9 will be entitled to a retroactive payment reflecting base salary and classification pool changes where applicable, effective January 9, 2005, through July 9, 2005. No historical rows will be inserted into the employees’ job record for these transactions. Instead the following will happen in Additional Pay:
  1. On 10/21/05, HRD/ITD will run a program that will automatically insert retro regular pay (ROR) and/or retro overtime pay (ROT) amounts into Additional Pay for all eligible employees with an effective date of 10/16/05. The reason field will display “retropay”.
  2. Refer to Attachment B for a list of the valid HR/CMS earnings codes that were used to calculate the ROR and the ROT payments and Attachment C for an example of the retro calculation.
  3. Retro regular pay is subject to retirement. Retro overtime pay is not subject to retirement. Both retro earnings codes are taxed at the supplemental rate of 25%.
  4. A goal amount equal to the ROR and/or ROT payment will be used to ensure the payment is only paid once. Eligible employees on an unpaid LOA will be automatically paid upon their return from leave.
  5. Refer to page 8 of this memorandum for instructions how to stop Additional Pay payments.
  6. On 10/20/05, eight predictive retro pay reports (HMCMP07B) will be available in document direct. One predictive report will be created for employees not occupying titles included in the classification pool and seven reports will be created for employees occupying titles included in the classification pool.
  7. On 10/24/05, eight updated retro pay reports (HMCMP07B) will be available in document direct. One updated report will be created for employees not occupying titles included in the classification pool and seven updated reports will be created for employees occupying titles included in the classification pool.
  8. Departments should review and validate the predictive and updated reports. Employees with “below” EPRS ratings, salary exceptions, or those that were “not updated” will need to be manually adjusted.The report “Comments” are explained on page 7 of this memorandum.
  9. Employees will receive their retroactive payment in their pay advice Friday, November 4, 2005. The retroactive amounts will appear as separate earnings “Retro” on the pay advice.

Possible Manual Adjustments

  • The earning codes ADS, ADO, ROR, ROT and IAR (Industrial Accident Adjustments) posted between 01/09/05 and 07/09/05, will be included in this retro payment. If these payments should not be included in this retro, departments are responsible for making the manual adjustments.
  • Prior Period Adjustments (PPA’s) processed after 07/10/05, for the period of 01/09/05 through 07/09/05, willnot be calculated in the predictive or updated reports. All employees who had prior period adjustments will be identified as a “PPA” in the comment section of the report. Departments will be sent a report that identifies the employee’s prior period adjustments. If the prior period adjustment should be included in the retro payment, Departments must adjust the ROR and/or ROT retro pay earnings.
  • Employees who were on Industrial Accident or had a check reversal processed due to a return receipt voucher should also have the figures double checked for accuracy, as they may need to be manually adjusted.
  • Accounts Payable earnings posted after 07/10/05 (for FY05 earnings) will be included in the pay period ending 10/29/05 retro only. The pay period end date in which it was posted will appear on both the predictive and updated document direct reports. Departments should verify for accuracy.
  • PPED 11/12/05: All eligible employees in BU 9, will be entitled to a retroactive payment reflecting base salary changes effective July 10, 2005 through October 1, 2005. No historical rows will be inserted into the employee’s job record for these transactions. Instead the following will happen in Additional Pay:
  1. On 11/04/05, HRD/ITD will run a program that will automatically insert retro regular pay (ROR) and/or retro overtime pay (ROT) amounts into Additional Pay for all eligible employees with an effective date of 10/30/05. The reason field will display “retropay”.
  2. Refer to Attachment B for a list of the valid HR/CMS earnings codes that were used to calculate the ROR and the ROT payments and Attachment C for an example of the retro calculation.
  3. Retro regular pay is subject to retirement. Retro overtime pay is not subject to retirement. Both retro earnings codes are taxed at the supplemental rate of 25%.
  4. A goal amount equal to the ROR and/or ROT payment will be used to ensure the payment is only paid once. Eligible employees on an unpaid LOA will be automatically paid upon their return from leave.
  5. Refer to page 8 of this memorandum for instructions how to stop Additional Pay payments.
  6. On 11/03/05, eight predictive retro pay reports (HMCMP07B) will be available in document direct. One predictive report will be created for employees not occupying titles in the classification pool and seven reports will be created for employees occupying titles included in the classification pool.
  7. On 11/07/05, eight updated retro pay reports (HMCMP07B) will be available in document direct. One report will be created for employees not occupying titles in the classification pool and seven reports will be created for employees occupying titles included in the classification pool.
  8. Departments should review and validate the predictive and updated reports. Employees with “below” EPRS ratings, salary exceptions, or those that were “not updated” will need to be manually adjusted.The report “Comments” are explained on page 7 of this memorandum.
  9. Employees will receive their final retroactive payment in their pay advice Friday, November 18, 2005. The retroactive amounts will appear as separate earnings “Retro” on the pay advice.

Possible Manual Adjustments:

  • The earning codes ADS, ADO, ROR, ROT and IAR (Industrial Accident Adjustments) posted between 07/10/05 and 10/01/05, will be included in this retro payment. If these payments should not to be included in this retro, departments are responsible for making the manual adjustments.
  • Prior Period Adjustments processed after 07/10/05 for the period of 07/10/05 through 10/01/05 will be included in this retro. (All PPA’s processed after 07/10/05 for the period 01/09/05 through 07/09/05 will be noted as a comment on the retro report processed 10/29/05 only).
  • Employees who were on Industrial Accident or had a check reversal processed due to a return receipt voucher should also have the figures double checked for accuracy, as they may need to be manually adjusted.
  • Accounts Payable Earning Codes used after 07/10/05 to post earnings for FY 05 willnot be included in this retro.

IMPORTANT COMMENTS ON THE RETRO PAY REPORTS

Updated: ROR and/or ROTwere updated successfully. (Zero dollar amounts indicate, that the
employee either had no earnings in that category from 01/09/05-07/09/05 or was
not eligible for the payment.)