Communications Workers of America Local 1180 has settled a lawsuit with the Department of Homeless Services over its policy of keeping provisional employees in the Principal Administrative Associate title by transferring them to new positions that had the same duties rather than hiring qualified employees who had passed the PAA exam.
The city did not admit wrongdoing in its settlement with the union but has agreed to make a total of 10 appointments from the PAA exam list no later than March 1, 2012.
Circumventing Court Ruling?
Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes said DHS was circumventing the Long Beach decision, which mandates that provisional employees stay in a position for no more than nine months. About 80 provisional PAAs in DHS were moved to new titles, performing the exact same duties at the same pay levels.
The agency then insisted there were no open PAA slots, even though a competitive exam for them had recently been held and a list certified by Department of Citywide Administrative Services, according to the union’s lawsuit.
“In order to avoid using a list, they were shifting people to other titles, either non-competitive or provisional ones,” Mr. Cheliotes said in a phone interview. “We demanded they put a stop to that, especially in the light of there being a list, and we got them to agree to that.”
The Bloomberg administration agreed to make 10 appointments from the PAA list established by DCAS on July 6 from exam 8608. Two appointments have already been made, and the other eight will follow in the next three months.
Mr. Cheliotes said that although he was happy with the settlement, the union was mindful that similar practices go on at other agencies.
“The chances of them not doing it again are slim to none,” he said. “It’s a matter of us catching them doing it. There are other agencies where we see that too and we send letters out to them saying that they have to respect civil-service law.
“It requires vigilance, and to the extent that our members let us know that people are being re-classified where a test has just been certified, we move on those cases,” he continued. “It’s been going on for as long as I remember.”
Law Department spokesman Elizabeth Thomas said in a statement, “The parties worked together in good faith to reach a fair, reasonable and amicable resolution of this matter without expending their resources or the Court’s on unnecessary litigation. Under the agreement, neither party concedes the truth or accuracy of any of the claims advanced by the other.”
A CWA shop steward in DHS, Shirley Littman, helped identify the issue and fight the lawsuit. She told Local 1180’s newspaper how the problem originated. “Take Harry [not a real person], who’s in danger of losing his job because he has no civil-service background and didn’t pass the test, but everyone likes him and they want to keep him,” she said. “Meanwhile, the number one on the list has all the qualifications and Harry’s provisional line should be for her.
“But they take Harry and change his title even though he’s doing the same job and probably for the same money,” she continued. “There may be 60 or so people in the same situation. By doing this, they eliminate all the provisional lines that all the people who passed the open-competitive test are waiting for. It also takes all of those employees out of our union even though they are doing our work.”
DHS did not respond to requests for comment on the issue.