New York State Department of Labor
Statewide PEF LABOR-MANAGEMENT MEETING
October 3, 2007
MINUTES
Present:
Management
Edward Gardner, Chair Patricia Smith, Commissioner
Andrew Adams Mario Musolino, Executive Deputy Commissioner
Roger Bailie Rick Marino
Pico Ben-Amotz Carmine Ruberto
Karen Coleman Norm Steele
John Dormin Karen Papandrea
Bruce Herman Robert Vitello
Jayson Myers Earl Wallace
PEF
Frank Besser, PEF Chair Bob Beckwith, PEF Field Rep
Ronald Goldstein Paul Kubiak
Bernice Jones Kevin Jones
James Malloy Heather Ruggieri
Robert Varano
Linda Kelley — Mgmt. Recorder Josephine Rice — PEF Recorder
Doris Cota — CSEA Observer
Management Observers
Veronica Cano Deborah Hughes
Nancy Dunphy Donald Rice
Debora O’Brien-Jordan
Leo Rosales
Handouts:
#1. Federal and State Budgets — October 3, 2007
#2. FY 2007 Monthly Summary Position Allocation & Spending by Major Division-August 2007
#3. DOL Listing PEF Hourly Employees — 10/2/2007
#4. Count of employees by Major Division 4/07 — 8/07 (Permanent items)
#5. Non Recoverable Overpayments — 9/20/07
#6. TCC weekly Flowout 07
#7. TCC Language Line Costs
#8. Initial Claims and Weeks Claimed-9/2005 — 8/2007
1. COMMISSIONER TOPICS
TOPIC: PEF request for information on Commissioner Smith’s televised interview with the AFL-CIO
DISCUSSION: Commissioner Smith interviewed with AFL-CIO on the show Working New York about her vision for the Department of Labor. She started out by talking about the Governor’s State of the State and how more enforcement efforts are needed. The Commissioner also added that last week she gave a talk to the State Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section, about the Department’s renewed emphasis on enforcement initiatives. She also spoke about Unemployment Insurance and the shrinking Federal funding and the Department’s continuing lobbying efforts in Washington for more funding for UI.
The Commissioner is carefully reviewing, filling vacant and expired labor positions on the Statewide Workforce Investment Board and the Apprenticeship Council.
ACTION: DOL WILL PROVIDE A CD COPY OF THE COMMISSIONER’S INTERVIEW TO PEF.
TOPIC: DOL’s plans to fill vacant Regional Administrator positions.
DISCUSSION: Filling RA positions is currently on hold while the Department is rethinking what the job responsibilities should be. The Governor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs is setting up Regional Councils. Not all agencies will be part of that but DOL will be.
II. BUDGET
TOPIC: Update of Federal Budget- FY 2008
DISCUSSION: In early February 2007, the President released his proposed FY 2008 budget. The full House has approved its version of the FY 2008 spending bill, while the Senate’s version has only passed through the Appropriation Committee. Once the full Senate approves its version, a combined conference bill can be proposed. As the FY 2008 budget is still in the development stage, the agency final FY 2008 funding awards are yet to be determined. Since the 2008 federal fiscal year began on October 1, the government is operating under a continuing resolution, which provides sufficient funds to maintain operations. This continuing resolution has been approved through November 16, 2007, Congress’ target date for adjournment.
Major Program Funding Levels:
Unemployment Insurance: NYS’ UI base funding in FY 2007 is $158.6 million, compared to $156.7 million in FY 2006, an increase of $1.9 million. Through June 2007, NYS has received $464,000 in FY 2007 contingency earnings ($374,000 for regular UI, $90,000 for Trade). Note: USDOL is currently funding contingency earnings at 84% of actual earnings, which is the reason why the figures are lower than the figures reported for the last meeting. At USDOL’s discretion, full contingency funding may be restored
retroactively.
Subject to the enactment of the FY 2008 Federal budget, preliminary FY 2008 UI base funding is $166.6 million, which is an increase of $8 million from the FY2007 UI base level of $158.6 million.
WIA: The FY 2007 budget maintained national WIA funding for PY 2007 (7/1/07-6/30/08) at the PY 2006 level. However, NYS’ relative share of the national WIA funding has declined by $6.65 million from $197.43 million in PY 2006 to $190.78 million for PY 2007. The majority of WIA funding, and this reduction is passed on to Local Workforce Investment Areas, We will be maintaining existing staffing levels in PY 2007.
For FY 2008/PY 2008 (7/1/08-6/30/09) the President is again proposing that the funding for WIA, Wagner Peyser, WOTC and Labor Market Information programs be reduced and consolidated into a single block grant to support Career Advancement Accounts and core employment services, with a 5% set-aside for State level administration and a 10% set-aside for Local level administration. In July, the House approved its FY 2008 spending bill which would fund WIA at the same levels as were appropriated in FY 2007. However, New York’s relative formula share of the WIA funding is again expected to decline, due to improvements in New York’s UI rate in comparison to other states. If the House bill is enacted, it is estimated that New York’s WIA funding will decline from $190.78 million in 2007 to $160.14 million in 2008, representing a potential loss of $30.64 million.
In addition, the House bill included a provision to rescind $335 million of unexpended 2005 and 2006 funds from WIA. The Congressional Research Service has estimated that New York State’s share of this rescission is $30.3 million. The Department is working with the State Workforce Investment Board, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and other appropriate stakeholders to appeal to Congress to remove this rescission from the final budget bill.
Wagner/Peyser: For PY 2007, the national funding level for Employment Services has been maintained at the PY 2006 level of $715.9 million. However, NY’s final PY 2007 allocation of $41.5 million was a $0.3 million reduction from the PY 2006 level of $41.8 million. We will be maintaining existing staffing levels in PY 2007.
As mentioned previously, for PY 2008, the President is proposing a nationwide $27.1 million cut to W/P funding, reducing the national funding level from $715.9 million in PY 2007 to $688.8 million in FY 2008. Additionally, as noted previously, the President is once again proposing legislation that would consolidate the WIA, Wagner/Peyser and WOTC programs into a single Career Advancement Account program.
Veterans Programs (DVOP/LVER): FY 2007 National appropriation is $152.0 million, which is a decrease of $2.1 million when compared to FY 2006 $154.1 million. NYS’ share for FY 2007 is $8.371 million compared to FY 2006 share of $8.604 million for a decrease of $233,000. The department continues to reduce staff down to supportable levels through normal attrition.
In May 2007, New York State was advised of its estimated FY 2008 funding level. New York State’s share for FY 2008 of $8.164 million is a decrease of $207,000 when compared to FY 2007 share of $8.371 million, Once again in FY 2008, it is anticipated that the decrease in funding will result in a decrease to supportable staff levels and the Department will need to reduce staff through normal attrition.
One Stop LMI: NYS’ preliminary PY 2007 funding for One Stop LMI activities is $1,381,028. This is a $100,525 decrease from PY 2006 funding of $1,481,553. As determined necessary the Department will reduce staff through normal attrition.
State Budget — SFY 2008-2009: The Department prepared and submitted its State Budget Request for SFY 2008-09, in accordance with the August 16, 2007, letter from Paul E. Francis, Director, NYS Division of the Budget. Our request includes sufficient funding authority to support our existing position levels and to support existing federal and state programs.
TOPIC: President’s proposal to block grant the WIA, Wagner/Peyser and WOTC programs into a single Career Advancement Account program.
DISCUSSION: That proposal is not consistent with what has been passed by the House and the Senate Appropriations committee.
TOPIC: Increase of $8 million in UI base funding.
DISCUSSION: This increase can be attributed to a number of factors. They have what is called a Resource Justification model which factors in workload and actual cost. There is no extra money for UI Modernization. There is no provision for any type of automation type grants.
TOPIC: Potential loss of $30 million in WIA funding.
DISCUSSION: There are two factors. In the PY 2008 we are anticipating a $30 million decrease due to formula factors. The second thing is the recession. Nationwide, there is currently $1 billion of unspent prior year WIA funds. Congress would like to take $335 million of that and reprogram it into other programs. There is currently a bill out there submitted by New York Congressman Walsh that proposes this recession. If that recession goes through it would impact primarily the local Workforce Investment Areas because most of it would be formula money.
The Department has been very active in Washington over the last couple of weeks on these recession issues. Management has been meeting with Senator Clinton’s, Congressman Walsh’s and Congressman Rangel’s staff. These are important issues for DOL. Even without this recession NYS is going to lose $30 million, so the recession adds an additional $30 million for a total of $60 million. PEF is also lobbying in Washington and will coordinate its efforts with DOL.
TOPIC: UI Trust Fund Status
DISCUSSION: The UI Trust Fund balance as of September 24 was plus $767 million. No interest payment is due to the US Treasury as we do not have an outstanding loan. It is anticipated the fund will remain solvent throughout the end of the calendar year. It is estimated that like this year, next year we will go into a temporary loan situation in the spring but it will be paid back and we will still be solvent at the end of next year.
ACTION: DOL WILL PROVIDE TO PEF A CURRENT LISTING OF POSITION ALLOCATION AND SPENDING FOR THE ENTIRE AGENCY.
III. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DIVISION UPDATE
TOPIC: Status of Division
DISCUSSION: The Division is in better shape than what we were a year ago. Identifying misclassification of workers is a Governor’s initiative that is enthusiastically being worked on. There are currently no plans for organizational changes.
TOPIC: Current Division fills vs. budget allocation and planned fills and promotions.
DISCUSSION: The Division is currently underspent. The focus is on benefit operations where 37 LSR’s have been hired for the Glendale and Troy TCCs. Also, since June, 150 positions have been filled in the UI Division with some of those positions being back-fills. About 47 fills are in currently in process. Around 30 of these fills are for the Senior ES Clerk positions in the call centers. The Division does not break down division fills vs. budget allocation by operational unit.
TCC ISSUES
TOPIC: Amount of non-recoverable overpayments by month
DISCUSSION: There were no dramatic changes in terms of pattern. In our performance measures in terms of overpayment detection, the Department is well within the Federal standard. There has been a substantial reduction in the backlog of cases.
TOPIC: Statistics on dropped calls
DISCUSSION: There were no dramatic changes in the number of dropped calls as compared to last year.
TOPIC: Cost of language translation services
DISCUSSION: It is anticipated the cost for language line translation services will rise due to the department’s commitment to outreach to the immigrant population. The Department is always looking to recruit Chinese-language speaking LSR’s.
UI APPEAL BOARD
TOPIC: Division update
DISCUSSION: Three UI Referees and a LSR have recently been hired. The projection for 2008 reflects an increase in position allocation of about 5 positions. A Buffalo Keyboard Specialist has been hired. One hourly employee is working in NYC to help train staff on working in the Library. The new Chairman is working in NYC along with the new Chief Judge. There is also a new hourly in Troy who is working on getting the files back up to date. A Clerk position has been promoted to an Agency Service Rep-Spanish Language position as a result of a desk audit done by Personnel. The
Division is also looking at the possibility of filling a Secretary 1 position in White Plains. The Division is currently studying smaller offices in White Plains, Long Island, Syracuse and Rochester and is working with Personnel on studying titles to see if higher titles are needed in those offices. After a study of the Buffalo and Rochester offices, one position was moved from Buffalo to Rochester after it was determined that the employee could better serve the Rochester office. There are plans to have more in-person hearings in Rochester and possibly Syracuse. The security issues in Rochester are being addressed and the Division will be requesting the installation of panic buttons for this office. PEF thanked management for their efforts in Buffalo and Rochester.
TOPIC: Amelioration Plan
DISCUSSION: In January of this year the Department was held in contempt by the federal judge. A new amelioration plan has to be submitted. The Division will be working with PEF on developing this plan.
IV. RESEARCH AND STATISTICS
TOPIC: Status of Division
DISCUSSION: It has been a very busy summer and early fall. The Division has been involved in several of the Department’s issues this summer including “I Love New York,” “Workers Comp Return to Work,” “WIA Recession Effort and Reports,” as well as the development of new labor legislation. The Division is down a few staff from allocation level but is trying to manage staffing levels because of the prospect of future reductions in both the BLS Federal Grants and Workforce Information Grant, also known as the
One-Stop LMI grant.
TOPIC: Planned fills and promotions
DISCUSSION: Position filling is ongoing.
TOPIC: Actual UI workload in the past 24 months.
DISCUSSION: The difference between this and last year’s UI workload is narrowing and we may be reaching a point where claims may tend to inch up somewhat. This is consistent with what seems to be going on nationwide in the economy and we have been looking at the forecasts of a variety of economic think-tanks and they are all forecasting a slight uptick of unemployment rates in the coming year.
V. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOPICS
TOPIC: Status of Division
DISCUSSION: The status of the Division is good. The time spent reviewing contracts for modernization slowed us down but at the same time it gave IT staff an opportunity to get up to speed on new advances in technology.
TOPIC: Planned fills and promotions
DISCUSSION: Continuing to fill where there are vacancies.
TOPIC: UI modernization update
DISCUSSION: The Division is currently working on a small contract with IBM to bring experts in only to set up their products. DOL is also looking at bringing in additional contract staff to supplement existing staff as we start building Agile Evolutionary Programming teams, which involves development in small teams with short deadlines. Contract teams are being brought in to work with DOL staff. DOL staff will be the project leaders and they will define what expertise is needed. The idea is to supplement staff. The Project Management System is up and running and projects are being reviewed for
relevancy and prioritized accordingly.
TOPIC: Restricting access of inappropriate sites on computers in DoES Resource Rooms.
DISCUSSION: Sites are already restricted centrally for all offices. Currently working on technology to give the ability to local individuals to be able to restrict and/or turn off access to inappropriate sites. Currently the Department is looking to develop a clear policy on managing customer access to the internet that would treat our customers in a fair and equitable way and would also provide good guidance to DOL employees on what can and cannot be done to restrict access to the internet.
TOPIC: Centralized password system or Single Sign-On
DISCUSSION: The technology that is in place to manage Single Sign-On is managed by the Office of Technology (OFT). The Department is currently working with OFT on a Single Sign-On system.
VI. DoES UPDATE
TOPIC: Current Division fills vs. its budget allocation
DISCUSSION: DoES Director Karen Papandrea introduced Bruce Herman as the new Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development which supervises DoES. The Division is doing pretty well. Positions are being filled to bring the fill rate up to allocation.
TOPIC: Information on the pilot Re-employment Eligibility Assessment (REA) Program.
DISCUSSION: REA is being tested in the Central-Mohawk Region and has gotten national attention due to the fact that the pilot program has been very successful. The Commissioner testified before Congress on the program. The Department has just requested an increase from the Federal Government to enable us to serve 10% of the UI population. The Department is looking to expand this program state-wide.
TOPIC: Alien Certification Unit Update
DISCUSSION: The DoES portion of the unit has been relocated to Albany. Personnel who worked in the Alien Certification Unit in NYC were not relocated but were given other positions in New York City or will be offered other jobs in New York City; no one lost their jobs due to this relocation.
TOPIC: Plans to relocate any other offices
DISCUSSION: The Spring Valley Office will be moving down two or three doors. The move from Newark to Lyons is moving along.
TOPIC: Planned move from Elmira to the Community College
DISCUSSION: The Division is currently reviewing issues with the new space and will not move staff until everyone is confident the new space is safe and proper.
TOPIC: Planned move from Rochester Downtown to Waring Road
DISCUSSION: The move is still an open issue.
TOPIC: Staten Island move
DISCUSSION: No status but will check on it and get back to PEF.
TOPIC: Schermerhorn Street Renovation
DISCUSSION: The renovation is being reviewed by the Department in order to make good use of the space. A decision will have to be made in the near future due to other upcoming expiring leases in NYC.
VII. VETERANS PROGRAM ISSUES
TOPIC: Status of Veterans Incentive Award for 2007.
DISCUSSION: The processing of this award is moving forward. The Division will be working with PEF on the issuance of the actual incentive awards, The Division is currently working with PEF on the 2008 Veterans Incentive Awards.
TOPIC: What does the term Common Measures mean?
DISCUSSION: The ETA and USDOL want everyone in the public workforce system to be evaluated by the same criteria to be able to look at how people are performing.
VIII. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
TOPIC: Status of Division including any organizational changes
DISCUSSION: Karen Coleman the new Director of Workforce Development and Training introduced Bruce Herman as the new Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development which includes her Division. The Division has been very busy in the last couple of months as workforce development is a Governor’s initiative. There are presently no plans for organizational changes. The Division currently has approval to fill 16 positions.
IX. WORKER PROTECTION DIVISION
TOPIC: Status of Division including any organizational changes
DISCUSSION: Deputy Commissioner Pico Ben-Amotz thanked PEF for its input on Division of Safety and Health hiring and promotion Issues. PEF felt the hiring process was a success. A while ago, a Central Processing Unit had been put together with the idea of cross-training DOSH, Labor Standards and Public Work staff in order to better utilize their skills. This idea was meant with skepticism from staff and the skepticism has proven to be well founded. As a result the Central Processing Unit will be disbanded and staff will be moved back to their original programs. This will not result in any staff reductions or title changes. The Division is currently reviewing space allocation issues in order to save money. For the time being it is anticipated that staff will remain in their current work location. There are no other changes to report.
TOPIC: Current Division fills vs. budget allocation
DISCUSSION: Actively working on filling all positions.
TOPIC: Role of Worker Protection Division in Workers Compensation reform
DISCUSSION: Working on the safety and loss incentive regulation. Staff in DOSH are working on the regulation with the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform. Also doing research on potential cost savings to each of the three components of that program so that we can inform and advise the Insurance Department so that they can take that into account when they are factoring in the exact percentage of reductions that employers will be able to get in these programs.
X. WAGE AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES DIVISION
TOPIC: Status of Division
DISCUSSION: The Bureau of Wage and Immigration Services was established this year and has 5 staff members. The Bureau recently appointed a new Director, Mayra Peters-Quintero to replace Lorelei Boylan who has been promoted to a new position in Labor Standards.
TOPIC: Division fills vs. budget allocation
DISCUSSION: Actively working on filling positions. By the end of this month it is expected that the Division will be fully staffed.
TOPIC: New Job Duties
DISCUSSION: No changes of substance. Labor Standards Investigators will basically be doing the same things they have always done with more outreach to the immigrant community.
TOPIC: Status of Worker Compensation pilot program in Buffalo
DISCUSSION: It has been an on-going pilot program for fourteen years. We do not have any funding to expand the program statewide and feel that resources can better be used in other areas.
XI. SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS
TOPIC: Changes in the mission of the Division
DISCUSSION: There is a major change in the mission. The new function of the Division is to be the law enforcement liaison for the Department. ID employee card responsibilities have been transferred to Personnel. Disaster Relief is currently still under the Division but might be transferred to FEMA.
XII. MISCELLANEOUS
TOPIC: Scheduling meetings on religious holidays
DISCUSSION: The Department will try to ensure that this does not happen again.
TOPIC: Compliance with PEF contract Article 28 — notice to local PEF designee
DISCUSSION: The Department will advise managers of their responsibility in regard to this article.
Next Meeting:
Wednesday, January 9, 2008 10:00am in Room 544