February 1, 2024 — When Executive Board member Mickey Dobbin from the State Education Department (SED) reached out to PEF with the news that hourly employees at SED had received improperly prorated contract signing bonuses, the union investigated and then filed a class-action grievance with the State Office of Employee Relations (OER).
“The grievance has yielded positive discussions with OER,” President Wayne Spence said. “As a result of those discussions, some impacted members at SED have already received additional pay to make up the difference caused by the improper proration.”
Hourly employees at SED work a full 37.5-hour agency schedule, but their bonuses were prorated based on a 40-hour workweek.
“I was an hourly employee at SED myself for a long time and ran to be a steward as an hourly employee with the express intention of bringing our unique concerns and issues to PEF,” Dobbin said. Now a Civil Service employee, Dobbin says he would not have been aware of the issue if his members hadn’t come to him. “One of my coworkers noticed it was not adding up and alerted me to the issue, which I quickly discovered all the other hourly employees in my office had.”
That member was Steven Moragne, who discovered the discrepancy when he received the bonus deposit and it didn’t match what he had calculated when creating a household budget.
“I had a ‘back-of the-envelope’ idea of what the net figure would be,” he said. “When the direct deposit came in and my math was off by more than $100, I went to Payroll Online to check the stub and try to figure out where my error was. I could see right away that the number was off from what we had been contracted to receive and a quick check against the promised $3,000 showed that it was off by 6.25% – the exact difference between 37.5 and 40 hours.”
Realizing it was likely not unique to him, he contacted his steward.
“I contacted Mickey to let him know while also asking some of my colleagues in the same position to confirm,” he said. “Mickey took it from there.”
Moragne said he was off-site in Western New York when he noted the error and had it not been for his union, it wouldn’t have been easy to pursue the issue.
“Even if I knew the right people to contact, I doubt I would have had the bandwidth to deal with this on my own,” he said. “Notifying Mickey and having PEF carry the weight from there meant I didn’t have to.”
As an Executive Board member, Dobbin said he was able to take the issue directly to PEF staff in the Contract Administration Department.
“I saw the possibility that this issue could be happening in any state agency with a 37.5-hour workweek, and hopefully any other PEF members who are hourly can have their bonus made whole,” he said. “Whether you are a grade 14 or a grade 29, in a Civil Service title, or provisional or hourly, the union is here for you, your local stewards and leaders are here for you, your field reps are here for you, and we will fight and advocate for you.”
PEF provided payroll documentation from other state agencies indicating this problem occurred beyond SED. OER is reviewing that documentation and providing guidance to agencies to rectify the payments.
Anyone paid on an hourly, part-time or per diem basis who believes their $3,000 signing bonus was improperly prorated should reach out to their field representative. A list of regional offices can be found here.