Government workers ponder taking unpaid leave

[Furlough fracus]

Government workers ponder taking unpaid leave

By Deanna Martin
Associated Press

Indiana is offering state government employees voluntary unpaid leave, but it's unclear how many workers might give up part of their paycheck during a recession to help the state save money.

Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the unpaid leave plan last week as part of a series of budget-cutting measures. State tax collections fell $309 million below expectations during the first four months of this fiscal year, prompting the cuts.

State workers who want to take the state up on its offer can request up to a month of unpaid leave, during which they won't get paid but will continue to get benefits. Employees can request the leave however they want it: a day of unpaid leave every week, for example, or two weeks off in a row. It's up to department supervisors to approve or deny requests and make sure state services continue.

The Daniels administration isn't sure exactly how much the state might save or how many of the state's 30,000 workers might take unpaid leave.

"Once we've given this a little bit of time and people know this option is there, we'll have a much better picture," said Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski. "Some people will see this as a way to help out during a difficult economic time and others won't want to use it, and that's certainly understandable."

Daniels said last week that unpaid leave might be especially attractive to workers in agencies that deal with seasonal work, such as the Department of Natural Resources.

"I've had a number of employees say to me this is something they might value," Daniels said Friday.

Voluntary unpaid leave is certainly better than the mandatory furloughs or layoffs that workers in other states have faced during the economic downturn, said David Warrick, leader of the union that represented state workers before Daniels took office in 2005 and stopped collective bargaining rights for state employees.

"Obviously people who need the money aren't going to take off, but I think there will be some takers around the holidays," said Warrick, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 62.

More than 20 states have tried using mandatory furloughs to reduce their payrolls without resorting to layoffs, according to an August report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York in Albany.

"States are trying to cut costs without hurting services or employees too much," said Bob Ward, who heads the institute's state finance research.

Indiana workers can request unpaid leave through the end of June, when the state's fiscal year ends.

Daniels noted that Indiana is better off financially than many states. California, for example, furloughed more than 200,000 state workers three days a month earlier this year during a budget crisis, reducing their pay by about 14 percent.

Daniels said this latest round of budget-cutting measures -- including unpaid leave, cuts by state agencies and no pay raises for state workers -- is likely enough to fill Indiana's current budget gap. But if revenues continue to fall below the projections, he said, all bets are off.

"Up to this point, we have managed economy in state government with few, if any, involuntary terminations, except for poor performance," Daniels said. "I can't say that will remain the case here. We're going to try our very best."

[Layoffs]

Indiana state workers get layoff notices

By Mary Beth Schneider
[e-mail]

State government began laying off employees today in order to cut costs.

The Department of Administration this morning began telling 33 employees that they no longer will have jobs.

Mark Everson, commissioner of the Department of Administration, said the lay-offs were "necessary belt-tightening" as the state faces a loss of revenue due to the recession. The cuts will save $900,000 in this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and about $1.6 million annually.
He said the largest number of jobs -- about a dozen -- are in the department's public works division. With capital projects on hold, Everson said, there was no need for those doing architectural, engineering and projects management. Gov. Mitch Daniels recently ordered agencies to cut costs by 10 percent for this fiscal year. Last week, he said that he hoped to avoid layoffs, but was making no promises.
His press secretary, Jane Jankowski, said no other agencies were laying off people today.

[0403106]

POLICY STATEMENT
MANUAL OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Effective Date
06/16/04
Page No.
1
No of Pgs.
2
INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION Policy No.
04-03-106
Title
THE ESTABLISHMENT, MODIFICATION AND COMPENSATION OF
STAFF WORKING HOURS
State Form 19277
Text
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for the initial assignment and a modification
to a staff person’s regular working schedule or shift.
POLICY STATEMENT:
The Commissioner shall establish the working hours for all staff of the Department of
Correction. Assignment of staff to a specific shift shall be the prerogative of the Commissioner
or designee. The establishment and assignment of shifts shall be based upon:
A. The goals, objectives and operational needs of the Department;
B. A staff person’s needs and interests; and,
C. Good Human Resources management practices.
Upon hiring, a staff person shall be assigned to an initial work schedule that will permit the staff
person to be available for appropriate training programs. During the staff person’s probationary
period, the staff person’s work schedule or shift may be changed in order to broaden the scope
of the staff person’s training and to provide an adequate working test period evaluation.
A shift or schedule assignment or reassignment shall be made after the successful completion of
the working test period. This assignment or reassignment shall be based upon:
A. Departmental operations;
B. A staff person’s career training needs;
C. Efficiency of operation;
D. Security; and,
E. A staff person’s needs or interests.
Sufficient notification shall be furnished to the affected staff person when changes in shift or
schedule assignments are made.
In addition to working regularly scheduled hours, staff may be required to work overtime as the
need arises. Due to the need to maintain the security of the facilities, it may be necessary to
require staff to work beyond their normal shift or schedule. Guidelines shall be established and
updated by the Department for the equitable assignment of overtime to those staff persons who
are eligible to earn overtime. In accordance with rules established by the State Personnel
Department and Department operational needs, overtime compensation may be in the form of
compensatory leave or monetary payments.
Text
POLICY STATEMENT
MANUAL OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Effective Date
06/16/04
Page No.
2
No of Pgs.
2
INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION Policy No.
04-03-106
Title
THE ESTABLISHMENT, MODIFICATION AND COMPENSATION OF
STAFF WORKING HOURS
State Form 19277
This policy is applicable to all Department facilities and staff.
LEGAL REFERENCES:
IC 4-15-2-29 Authorizes the State Personnel Department to establish rules for the
hours of work for state merit employees.
IC 11-8-2-5(a)(8) Authorizes the Commissioner to develop policies, programs and
services for the administration of facilities and for the conduct of
employees of the Department.
IC 11-8-2-8(c) Authorizes the Department to cooperate with the State Personnel
Department in establishing a system of personnel recruitment,
selection, employment and distribution.
IC 11-10-5-4(d) Establishes that the hours of work for teachers in the
Department shall be set in accordance with IC 4-15-2.
31 IAC 2-11-1 Establishes the rules for hours of work developed by the State
Personnel Department for merit employees.
31 IAC 2-11-2 Establishes the State Personnel Department’s rules for overtime
and holidays for merit employees.
RELATED POLICIES:
04-03-101 The Posting of Job Opportunities and the Appointment of Staff
04-03-103 Information and Standards of Conduct for Departmental Staff
04-03-105 The Request and Approval of Leave Time
____________________________
Chairperson, Board of Correction
____________________________
Date
1. DEFINITIONS:
For the purpose of these procedures, the following definitions
are presented:
a.Administrative staff: departmental staff with Monday
through Friday job assignments within a facility
business environment.
b.On-duty: the time period during which the staff
person is working and providing a service to the
facility. It does not include times when the
staff person is "on-call."
c.schedule/regular work: a regularly assigned schedule
of daily work hours.
d.shift: a regularly assigned schedule of daily work
hours where more than one such shift/schedule is
used in any daily twenty-four (24) hour period on
a regular basis.
e.State Personnel Director: chief executive of the
State Personnel Department.
A. NORMAL WORKING HOURS
2. HOURS OF WORK:
Rule 11, section 11-1 of the Compilation of Official Rules
adopted and promulgated by the State Personnel
Department, State of Indiana (Issued March 30, 1986)
entitled "Hours of Work", states "The normal minimum
working week shall be forty (40) hours except as
otherwise established by statute or by specific ruling
of the State Personnel Director. Shift hours shall be
established by the appointing authority. Assignment of
employees to specific shifts shall be the prerogative
of the appointing authority." All full time staff
shall work a minimum of forty (40) hours per week,
unless specifically exempted by Statute, or by the
State Personnel Director. All custody staff shall be
construed to be "on duty" during the eight (8) hour
work day and may participate in a meal break without
extending the work day by 1/2 hour. (NOTE: pre-shift
roll call is in addition to the eight (8) hour work
day.)
Any employee who is required to continuously supervise offenders
or cannot leave a post may participate in a meal break
without extending the work day by 1/2 hour.
Facility heads shall determine what shifts will be
designated as having no meal break option. Teaching
staff are required to work forty (40) hours per week.
It is the responsibility of the facility head to determine which
posts and/or employee classifications
are exempt from extending the work day by 1/2 hour because of a
meal break.
A facility head may extend the lunch break to one (1) hour for
employees "not on duty" but the "not on duty" employee
must still work a full eight (8) hour per day,
excluding the lunch break, unless exempted by Statute
or specific ruling of the State Personnel Director.
3.CRITERIA FOR INITIAL ASSIGNMENT TO SHIFT (SCHEDULE):
Permanent shift or schedule assignments shall be based on one or
more of the following criteria:
a.Facility needs/departmental operations: The facility
head or designee is charged with the
responsibility of making all personnel assignments
necessary to maintain the operations of the
respective facility at an acceptable functioning
level. Operational necessity shall prevail over
all other criteria in any permanent shift/schedule
assignment.
b.Training: Shift/schedule assignments may be made by
the facility head or designee in order to enhance
or utilize training by staff persons so long as
such assignments are in the best interests of the
Department and are consistent with the operational
needs and goals of the facility. Such assignment
opportunities shall be available to all staff and
made in an equitable manner.
c.Efficiency and/or Security: The facility head or
designee may make such shift/schedule assignments
as is deemed necessary to provide an increased
level of operational efficiency and/or security.
Such assignments should maximize usage of staff
persons with special training, abilities or
experience. Shift rotations are the prerogative
of the facility head, but the process in which the
rotation occurs must be in writing and available
for staff review.
It should be noted that all of the criteria for shift or
schedule assignments listed above are administrative in
nature. While assignment to certain shifts or schedules
may be perceived by some staff persons to be more desirable
than others, these assignments are administrative actions,
not disciplinary actions.
4.CRITERIA FOR SUBSEQUENT REASSIGNMENT TO OTHER
SHIFTS/SCHEDULES DURING THE WORKING TEST PERIOD:
Reassignment to different shifts/schedules during the working
test period may be made by the facility head or
designee in order to comply with existing
organizational training programs; to broaden the scope
of the staff person's on the job training; and/or to
provide adequate working test evaluation. Where such
reassignments are made, the staff person will be
apprised as early as practical.
5.NOTIFICATION TO STAFF OF CHANGE OR SHIFT/SCHEDULE:
All permanent shift/schedule changes for regular employees must
be accomplished in a manner designed to provide a
minimum of seven (7) calendar days notice to the
affected employee prior to the effective date of the
change. Such notification shall be in the form of a
written communication from the facility head or
designee to the affected staff person. In the event of
an emergency, the need for the (7) seven calendar
notice is waived.
The facility head or designee may not unilaterally adjust the
regularly established work schedule of employees for
the purpose of avoiding the payment of overtime. Time
schedules may be adjusted for employees in departments
which routinely provide services during hours other
than the normally established working hours of the
facility by notifying employees of adjusted schedules
with as much notice as possible.
6.PROVISION OF REVIEW OF CHANGE IN EMPLOYEE SHIFT/SCHEDULE
ASSIGNMENT:
Should an affected employee desire review of a decision to change
that employee's shift/schedule assignment, the employee may
request and be considered for an opportunity to discuss the
shift assignment with the facility head or designee. This
procedure should not be construed as a challenge to the
facility head's prerogative to make shift assignments, nor
shall it in any way negate or replace any portion of the
official complaint procedure; but is established rather to
provide the employee and the facility head an opportunity to
discuss a disputed administrative action.
7.OFFICE HOURS:
Each facility shall be open with administrative staff available
for at least eight (8) hours per day, Monday through
Friday, excluding holidays. In so far as it does not
affect the overall effectiveness of the location, a
representative of the administrative staff, including
employees with custody authority, shall be available
Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, to insure
all employees on all shifts have an opportunity to
visit these offices. The facilities may utilize flextime
to arrange these hours of service. The facility
head is responsible for approving shifts within the
eight (8) hour period.
B. OVERTIME
8.OVERTIME COMPENSATION:
Overtime may be used during those occasions when additional
security coverage is necessary. Overtime shall be
divided into two (2) types: special (time and onehalf)
and straight-time. Assignments to overtime duty
will not displace regularly assigned employees at a
particular post in the on-coming shift.
Special overtime shall comprise hours of work measured in
increments of no less than one-quarter hours which are
in excess of forty (40) hours of work in a week for
those employees whose regularly established minimum
working week is forty (40) hours. Employees whose
minimum working week is thirty-seven and one-half
(371/2) hours or less shall be paid for overtime worked
at a straight-time rate equal to the employee's regular
hourly rate multiplied by the number of additional
hours worked less then forty (40) total hours of work
within the work week.
In order to be eligible for special overtime pay, an employee
must work more than forty (40) hours in the work week
(Sunday through Saturday). Holidays, sick days,
vacation days, personal days, leaves of absence,
compensatory time-off and time spent in on-call or
standby status shall not constitute "hours of work" or
"hours worked" for the purpose of this policy.
Employees in the POLE category at the facilities who
are eligible to earn overtime will not be authorized
for special overtime compensation until they have in
excess of forty-three (43) hours during the calendar
week. The three (3) hours in excess of the regular
forty (40) hours worked during the week will be paid at
a straight-time rate.
Employees, except as indicated in the preceding paragraph, who do
not actually work their scheduled forty (40) hours in
the week but who are credited with more than forty (40)
hours in the week are to be paid at a straight-time
rate based upon the employee's regular hourly pay rate.
For example, an employee who use a sick day during the
week (Sunday through Saturday) but works five (5) days
in the work week will be paid at a straight-time rate
even though the number of hours credited are in excess
of forty (40) hours.
9.EMPLOYEES ELIGIBLE FOR OVERTIME PAYMENT:
Employees in the following job categories of the classified
service are eligible for overtime:
a.Professional-Administrative-Technological (PAT),
Skill level VI.
b.Clerical-Office Machine Operator-Technician (COMOT),
Skill levels II through VI.
c.Labor-Trades-Crafts (LTC), Skill levels I
through V.
d.Supervisory and Managerial LTC, Skill levels IV
through VII.
e.Protective Occupations-Law Enforcement (POLE),
Skill levels II through VI and Correctional
Officer, Correctional Sergeant, Special Attendant
and Special Attendant Supervisor VI.
f.The following Nursing Classification: LPN, Change
Nurse III, Charge Nurse Supervisor V, Nurse IV,
Nurse Supervisor V, Nurse Supervisor VI, Nurse
Supervisor VII.
10.HOLIDAY SCHEDULES:
Only those holidays approved by the Governor shall be observed.
All employees will receive holiday leave credit for all
holidays listed on the Governor's holiday schedule or
officially proclaimed by the Governor unless the
employee is out of pay status the day before and after
the designated holiday.
When a legal holiday occurs on a Saturday, the Friday immediately
preceding shall be observed as the holiday. When a
legal holiday occurs on a Sunday, the Monday
immediately following shall be observed as the holiday.
An employee scheduled to work on a holiday may request
compensatory time=off in anticipation of the holiday
earned any time during the pay period in which the
holiday occurs. A written request, using State
Form______, "Authorized Leave Request," must be
submitted in advance. The request must be approved by
facility head or designee. The facility head or
designee has the authority to credit an employee with
compensatory time-off in lieu of payment for holiday
time any time during the pay period in which the
holiday falls. All compensatory time taken in lieu of
holiday pay will be at a straight-time rate.
Facility heads or designees are not required to approve employees
use of holiday time to cover vacations or unscheduled
authorized leave unless the absence occurs on the
holiday. Accrued vacation leave should be used to
cover such absence.
Employees who are terminating employment should be scheduled,
whenever possible, to receive compensatory time-off for
accrued holiday time. If the holiday remains
uncompensated at the time of termination, the employee
will receive payment for such time on a straight-time
basis. If the employee has anticipated
holiday leave, payment for leave used but unearned shall be
deducted from the final payment of salary. If the
holiday occurs after the employee's last day present at
work, the terminating employee is not entitled to
holiday pay.
11.LIGHTS ON EARNED OVERTIME:
Employees shall be limited to working thirty-two (32) hours of
overtime per pay period, unless authorized due to so
because of employee shortages or security needs. The
facility head or designee may authorize overtime in
excess of thirty-time (32) hours but less than forty
(40) hours during a pay period. Such authorization
shall be in writing. If a need arises for an employee
to work overtime in excess of forty (40) hours during a
pay period, authorization must be obtained from the
appropriate Division Director in advance.
Employees shall not be allowed to work in excess of sixteen (16)
consecutive hours in a twenty-four (24) hour period
without an eight (8) hour break. Also, employees shall
not work more than two (2) sixteen (16) hour days in a
row or work more than one (1) of their normal off-days.
Employees shall not be required to work mandatory overtime after
the last shift of their regularly scheduled work week
prior to an approved off-day.
12.ASSIGNMENT OF OVERTIME-VOLUNTARY:
Due to employee shortages and the need to ensure adequate
coverage of a facility, it may be necessary to request
that employees work overtime. The facility head or
designee shall attempt to assign employees to work
overtime on a voluntary basis. If it is not possible
to assign volunteers to work overtime, employees may be
drafted as indicated below; however, the facility shall
exhaust all efforts to find volunteers prior to
resorting to mandatory overtime.
Each facility shall develop and post an up-to-date listing be job
classification and by shift of all employees in
occupations where overtime, voluntary or mandatory, may
be expected to occur. The initial listing shall be by
seniority, with the newest
employees in that job classification at the top of the list and
those employees with the most seniority at the bottom
of the list. As an employee works an overtime
assignment, the employee's name will be placed at the
bottom of the list. This list shall be posted
prominently so that employees may determine their
position on the list easily. The list for custody
employees shall be posted in the custody supervisor's
office, the shift supervisor's office and in roll call
areas. The lists shall be updated daily.
When it is determined that the use of overtime is necessary, the
facility head or designee shall consult the list and
starting at the top of the list shall ask for
volunteers to work the necessary overtime. The
facility head or designee shall continue down the list
until the overtime needs are filled.
Eligible employees may volunteer to work overtime by contacting
the facility head or designee two (2) hours prior to
the end of their shift. Employees volunteering for
overtime duty will be subject to the restrictions
mentioned in procedure #11. Employees who volunteer
will have the date of the time worked recorded on the
Overtime List. Im the event that there are more
volunteers than are needed, the employee working the
earliest date will have the option to work. In cases
where more than one employee has the same date of
previous overtime, the issue will be resolved by
reviewing the second nearest date worked in an overtime
status.
An employee may volunteer to be called into work on either one
(1) of the two (2) scheduled days off or four (4) hours
prior to the beginning of the normal shift. Employees
who are called and report to work four (4) hours prior
to the beginning of the normal shift or who work either
one (1) of the regular days off will not be subject to
involuntary overtime at the end of the shift. The
overtime hours worked will be recorded on the Overtime
List.
13.ASSIGNMENT OF OVERTIME-MANDATORY:
It may be necessary to order staff to work overtime duty. In
cases where overtime duty is necessary and the facility
head or designee has found an insufficient number of
volunteers to fill this overtime, it will be
appropriate to order employees to work overtime duty to
ensure the safety and security of the facility. Prior
to ordering employees to work overtime duty, the
facility head or designee shall make all reasonable
attempts to secure volunteers.
When it is determined that sufficient volunteers are not
available, the facility head or designee shall review
the Overtime List to determine what employee work
overtime the farthest date back. The employee(s)
ordered to work the overtime duty will be the
employee(s) who is present at the facility and worked
overtime the farthest date back. In cases where more
than one employee last worked overtime on the same
date, the next date on which overtime was worked will
be used to determine who shall work the needed
overtime. The only exemption to this procedure will be
facility trip officers.
14.EXCUSE FROM OVERTIME ASSIGNMENT:
Any employee ordered to work overtime duty may be excused from
this order once every six (6) months based on a
calendar year. When an employee desires to be excused
from an order to work overtime duty, the employee must
submit this request to the immediate supervisor. The
immediate supervisor shall advise the facility head or
designee. It will be the responsibility of the next
employee identified on the Overtime List in accordance
with procedure #13 to work the overtime duty. The use
of an excuse from an overtime assignment does not
change the employee's last date to work overtime or the
position on the Overtime List.
If an excuse from working involuntary overtime is not used in the
six (6) month period, it does not accumulate.
The facility head may deny an employee an excuse from working
overtime. The denial shall be based on the facility
head's belief that the employee's presence is necessary
to carry out the mission of the facility.
Employees may be excused from overtime due to medical reasons.
In such cases. the employee must submit a written
request to the facility head or designee,
including a statement from the attending physician indicating why
working additional hours would be hazardous to their
health. All requested excuses due to medical reasons
will be reviewed by the facility medical administrator
for verification and appropriateness. If the facility
questions the medical statement, it may request a
second opinion. The employee and the immediate
supervisor shall be notified in writing as to the
approval or denial of the request.
15.USE OF NON-ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE'S:
In certain cases, it may be necessary to use volunteers from
custody and non-custody employees who are not normally
eligible for overtime compensation to fill vacant
posts. In such situations, the facility head must
authorize this action. It must be used as a last
resort and only for the express purpose of avoiding
excessive involuntary overtime for custody employees
during critical manpower shortages.
Non-custody employees who volunteer for custody overtime duty
must have at least one (1) year of correctional officer
experience and/or have been granted permanent status as
a correctional officer. These employees, unless
qualified and certified, will not be assigned to posts
which require the use of firearms.
Employees with the rank of Sergeant may be ordered to work
overtime duty on sergeant posts. A separate Sergeant
Overtime List will be maintained in the same manner as
the Overtime List indicated in procedures #12 and 13.
Sergeants who volunteer may be assigned to work
overtime in a correctional officer post. The facility
will not select Sergeants who volunteer to work
overtime will not be selected before correctional
officers simply due to their rank; but, will be
considered only by how they are listed on the volunteer
Overtime List.
16.NON-EMERGENCY OVERTIME:
The department has been granted blank approval to utilize
overtime to ensure full coverage of custody and nursing
positions. However, it will be necessary for the
facility head to secure approval for the use of
overtime for other non-custody or non-emergency areas. The
facility head must submit a written request to the
appropriate Division Director prior to the use of this
overtime. This request must include the following
information:
a. employee's name;
b. class code;
c. class title;
d. hourly salary;
e. dates the overtime is to be incurred;
f.approximate number of hours of overtime
incurred;
g.amount to be paid to each employee; and,
h. the reason for the overtime.
The Division Director shall review this request and, if approved,
forward the request to the department's Supervisor of
Personnel. The Supervisor of Personnel then shall
attempt to secure the necessary approvals from the
State Personnel Department and State Budget Agency.
The facility head shall receive a written response
regarding the status of this request.
The facility head may request a blanket authorization annually
for certain positions that are known to require
overtime, such as yearly snow removal. Requests for
blanket authorization are to be submitted as indicated
above and should be submitted to allow sufficient time
to obtain all necessary approvals.
17.PRE-SHIFT ROLL CALL:
Custody staff at department facilities may be required to attend
a pre-shift roll call before their eight (8) hour shift
is to start. The pre-shift roll call shall be included
in the forty-three (43) hours that the custody staff
must work prior to being eligible for time and one-half
pay.
In order to ensure the proper crediting of time spent at preshift
roll call meetings, the document used to indicate
daily attendance shall be marked "NR" (no roll call)
when an officer or sergeant who would normally be at
the roll call does not attend due to being at another
post (e.g. tower or trip in overtime status). When the
timekeeper calculates the overtime and roll
call hours earned and the daily attendance document indicates
"NR", the employee will not receive credit for
attendance at the roll call on that date. In this
case, the employee shall be paid for all of the hours
reported on the overtime ship only.
Correctional officers and sergeants who are on special assignment
must indicate on the "Request for Overtime" whether
they attended a roll call when the overtime occurs
prior to or in conjunction with the assigned shift.
18.APPLICABILITY:
These procedures are applicable to all department facilities and
staff.
________________________________________
COMMISIONER
________________________________________
DATE