An Act To Promote Recruitment and Retention of State Employees
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §7031, last ¶, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 785, Pt. B, §38, is amended to read:
It is not the intent of the Legislature in this chapter or any part of it to limit or restrict the rights of state employees to bargain collectively as provided in Title 26 to provide a framework under which collective bargaining as provided for in Title 26 can take place for any matters not removed from bargaining.
Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §7065, as amended by PL 2007, c. 466, Pt. A, §§19 and 20, is further amended to read:
§ 7065. Compensation plan
The director shall, as soon as practicable after the adoption of the classification plan, submit to the Legislature a proposed plan of compensation developed by the director showing for each class or position in the classified service minimum and maximum salary rates and such intermediate rates as the director considers desirable.
(1) High turnover exists or , long-term vacancies exist or other documentable recruitment and retention difficulties exist within State Government in the relevant occupational classifications or job series.
(2) The relevant occupational classification or job series has a clear, geographically definable labor market within which the State must compete.
(3) All appropriate Significant recruitment and retention efforts have been attempted and documented and have proven ineffective at the current levels of compensation.
(4) Comprehensive, verifiable Verifiable documentation of labor market compensation levels for the relevant occupation has been compiled to determine competitive pay levels within the defined labor market. This documentation must demonstrate that a labor market disparity exists and that the disparity represents a long-term, not transitory or seasonal, problem.
summary
This bill makes the following changes to the law relating to recruitment, hiring and retention of state employees:
1. Current law provides, in the negative, what the laws governing the state civil service system are not intended to do: limit or restrict the rights of state employees to bargain collectively. This bill strikes that language and instead provides, in the positive, what the laws governing the state civil service system are intended to do: provide a framework under which collective bargaining can take place;
2. Current law provides that, except as provided in statute, a position may not be assigned a salary that is greater than the maximum or lower than the minimum rates fixed in the compensation plan. This bill repeals that prohibition;
3. It changes the law governing recruitment and retention adjustments to remove the requirement that, if applicable, the Director of Human Resources within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services obtain the agreement of the bargaining agent;
4. It amends the law governing the conditions that justify the payment of a recruitment and retention adjustment by adding as a condition warranting the adjustment the existence of other documentable recruitment and retention difficulties and eliminating as a condition warranting the adjustment the existence of a clear, geographically definable labor market within which the State must compete;
5. It specifies that, if a subsequent review of any recruitment and retention adjustment results in an adjustment being decreased or discontinued, an affected employee may not be subject to a reduction in pay;
6. It eliminates the requirement that, if a funding request is necessary to implement an approved adjustment, the Director of Human Resources submit the cost items for inclusion in the Governor's next operating budget within 10 days after action on the report recommending the adjustment;
7. It specifies that salary increases within an established range must be based upon meritorious performance, which is defined as performance that exceeds satisfactory performance; and
8. It provides that, in hiring an employee who has not been employed by the executive branch within the immediately preceding 12 months, an agency may offer and pay a one-time recruitment bonus to the new employee that is subject to the discretion of the agency and is removed from collective bargaining.