03/20/2015 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

only candidates remaining on the list being undesirable (e.g., having a history of disciplinary actions). When the eligibility lists are exhausted, the Division has to pay employees overtime to fill the vacancies. Working employees out of classification under Article 21 is not a viable option as individuals working out of classification do not assume all of the duties of the higher classification (e.g., they do not prepare performance evaluations for subordinates). Even then, it often costs the Division more to work an employee out of classification than to promote the employee. For example, an Engineer making $55,000 who is promoted to Lieutenant receives a promotional increase of $5,500 (10%). That same Engineer who works out of classification for 24 hours receives additional pay equal to $2.50 per hour which, if annualized, equates to $7,100. Not only does this cost the Division more, it likely is creating a disincentive for employees to sit for promotion — they can make more working out of classification with fewer responsibilities. While at first blush, the remedy to this would appear to be the giving of another test, 3 problems exist with this. First, the Division cannot whip up a test on a moment's notice; they take months to prepare and schedule (the dates have to be coordinated with outside assessors, space has to be set up for the testing, etc.). Second, the tests are costly in terms of resources. Not only does the training division have limited resources, giving the test impacts operations as the candidates take the written portion on duty and someone has to cover for them while they are testing. Third, the vast majority of the employees eligible to promote for Lieutenant and Captain are not sitting for the tests in the first place; giving the test again would not accomplish anything. The issue of eligible employees not sitting for promotional exams came to a head in July 2013 when the promotion of a Captain to Battalion Chief created a Captain vacancy. A Lieutenant from the Captain's eligibility list was promoted to Captain, but there were no Engineers left on the Lieutenant's eligibility list to promote to Lieutenant. Thus, Director King selected a qualified Engineer to fill the vacancy to avoid having to cover the vacancy with overtime. Local 2201 filed a grievance over the matter, which the County granted in large part. Since that time, the Division has not promoted any employees from outside of the eligibility lists. The County is once again facing the issue created by eligible employees not sitting for promotions. For the September 2014 Lieutenant promotional exam, only 6 of the 18 eligible employees sat for the exam, and only 4 passed it. On December 31, 2014, the Lieutenant promotional list was exhausted. Currently there is 1 Lieutenant vacancy that the Division cannot fill. It regularly costs the County —$1,000 to cover this vacancy each shift, or 410,000 per month. At the end of May 2015, 3 Lieutenants who currently are in DROP will be retiring, leaving the Division with at least 4 Lieutenant vacancies it cannot fill under the current promotions process. It will cost the County 4220,000 in pay and benefits 11 11