A: The PEF Executive Board will meet on June 27 to review the tentative agreement. The PEF Constitution requires that the Executive Board must approve sending any tentative agreement to the membership for ratification. Assuming that the Board approves sending the Agreement, the full text of the Agreement will be distributed immediately to the membership. The Ballots will be mailed on July 26, 2000, and the final count will be held August 11, 2000 in New York City.

A: PEF has an obligation to present and explain the Tentative Agreement to members who have questions about it. We are scheduling a series of meetings throughout the State for this purpose, starting immediately after the July 4 holiday. Check with your regional PEF office for the meeting schedule in your area.

A: The ballot count has been set for August 11. If the members ratify the Agreement, Audit and Control will begin processing payments immediately, hopefully starting the last pay date in August. Not all of the retroactive monies are likely to be paid at once (we will work with Audit and Control to come to a better understanding of the schedule). For now, you can tell members we expect the money to start to flow at the end of August/beginning of September.

A: The State's goal was to delete Article 12.17 in its entirety. They argued that the restrictions in the Article were too constraining to management, particularly in the context of emerging technology.

The State claimed they need the more detailed information in the event overtime ineligible employees (or PEF) brought action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) attempting to make employees eligible for overtime.

A: Overtime ineligible employees (SG-23 and above) will record their time in the same manner as their co-workers who are eligible for overtime. Instead of just marking "Present" or "Absent", they will record the actual hours worked. The specific forms used, the information required and practices all vary by agency. NOTE: the recording of actual hours worked does not make an SG-23 eligible for overtime. Repeatedly throughout the negotiations, the State reiterated that they were not interested in making more employees eligible for overtime.

A: State-wide attendance and leave policy provides that individual appointing authorities may approve individual "work schedule adjustments" which may vary arrival or departure time or the length of a meal period in appropriate cases at agency discretion. Such work schedule adjustments typically must be made within the same pay period as the day(s) the excess time was worked. A work schedule adjustment should be worked out with your supervisor consistent with any agency-specific policy or labor/management agreement on the subject.

A: There is no contractual or statutory requirement that overtime ineligible employees must be provided compensatory time, nor is there an official State policy on the subject. However, specific agencies may have informal policies or practices allowing for "compensatory time" in particular circumstances. Generally, such "compensatory time" arrangements are essentially work schedule adjustments. As with "work schedule adjustments" such an arrangement for compensatory time should be worked out with your supervisor consistent with any agency-specific policy, practice or labor/management agreement on the subject.

A: Electronic recognition systems have long been used in many state agencies. Most often, they are used as electronic keys to restrict access to some or all parts of a building or parking facility. Recent technological advances, however, have made it possible to use electronic systems for other programmatic purposes. When such systems are accessed, the computers invariably record the time each individual used their card. This has been the case for many years, and PEF has enforced the language of 12.17 to assure that the information collected by these systems could not be used for time and attendance purposes. The Sideletter included in this Agreement reiterates this position, making clear that the changes to the language of Article 12.17 (to have overtime ineligible employees record their actual hours worked) had no impact on our protections against timekeeping.

A: No. The performance awards ($1,250 and $2,500 for 5 or 10 years at job rate) were maintained. In addition, we also retained and updated the sideletter that assures that the State will continue to pay longevity awards in the event PEF has not negotiated a successor agreement in April 2004.

A: Yes. There was no change made to the longevity award program. As to when you get paid, that depends on where it falls in the order of payments processed. It seems more than reasonable to expect payment by the middle to end of September.

A: The contract changes the increment (performance advance) system by adding a second effective payment date for increments. For people hired or promoted After April 1, 1999, they will have an increment added to their base salary on the October 1 or April 1 that next follows completion of a year of service in the title. Under the previous agreement, all employees had to wait until the next April.

A: No. The Agreement to sell professional leave days was limited to 1997 and 1998. We did pursue exchanging this and other unused leave credits for cash, but were not successful in achieving that demand. There is, however, a voluntary program that allows employees to reduce their sick leave accrual rate by three days in exchange for a $300 offset to the employee share of their health insurance premium.

A: No. Sick leave parity was one of the most important demands we tried to achieve in bargaining. It remained on our list of objectives until the very end, but the State was unwilling to modify its position that the accrual rate could only return to 13 days when PEF changed its longevity awards to $750 and $1,500 (from $1,250 and $2,500). The reduction in sick leave was bargained many years ago in exchange for the current longevity award program.

A: Part time employees are given the same across the board increases as other PEF members. They also will receive a pro-rated share of the $500 lump sum payment based on the actual hours they worked during the last six months of the 1999-2000 fiscal year.

A: Yes. The contract will be deemed to be in effect from April 2, 1999, and any employee who worked during that time will be eligible for payments based on the date any enhancements took effect. For example, the increase in Standby/Oncall pay is retroactive to April 1, 1999, the 3% base wage increases took effect on October 1, 1999 and April 1, 2000 respectively, and the $500 lump sum payment is paid to employees on the payroll March 31, 2000. For those employees who have retired, if there is any retroactive benefit that impacts your final average salary, you will have your pension benefits recalculated in addition to receiving the cash payment.

A: The education programs are under the Article 15 committee and those committee members will make the decisions about how to spend the money. In past years, the committee has authorized retroactive reimbursement, and we did negotiate four full years worth of funding for the committee (and increased the amount in each year as well).