Recently in Public Sector Category

Source: Natasha Chart, Today's Workplace Blog, August 27th, 2010

Despite defined benefit (DB) pensions, like the ones public employees get, being more economically efficient [pdf] and offering better returns, private employers have mostly switched to 401(k) plans, or defined contribution (DC) plans [pdf], because they're cheaper. Between 1979 and 2001, the portion of the workforce covered by defined benefit pensions dropped by half. By 2008, only 20 percent of private workers had such a pension.

Businesses saved a lot of money by either switching to low cost 401(k) plans or dumping their pension obligations on the government [pdf]. Did they use their savings to create jobs? Not lately. These days, businesses are firing more people than they need to and sitting on the cash.
See also:
More Salvos in the False "Class War" on Public Pensions
Source: Amy Traub, Today's Workplace, August 26th, 2010

Source: Doug Goodman and Stacey Mann, Public Personnel Management, Volume 39 No. 3, Fall 2010
(subscription required) (scroll down)

In recent years, Mississippi has temporarily suspended civil service protections for employees in some departments, reorganized those departments, and then reinstated civil service protection in those departments. State HR directors are surveyed to seek their opinions about at-will employment. Five survey items focus on the respondents' opinions concerning at-will employment as a managerial instrument; the responses are discussed and analyzed. We find that HR directors from smaller agencies and HR directors who trust political officials find utility in at-will employment as a managerial tool. We also find that female HR directors and HR directors with private sector experience disagree with the at-will employment in the public sector as a managerial tool.

Source: Empire Center, August 26, 2010

The names and salaries of 186,223 people who worked for New York's county, city, town and village governments in 2009-10 are available at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the transparency website sponsored by the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy.

The Empire Center also released a report, "2009-10 Public Payrolls," which summarizes average wages on a regional basis for each of the 1,512 local governments (outside New York City) contained in the database, which is based on reports filed with the state pension system. Some highlights:

- County and municipal salaries during the period totaled nearly $9.6 billion.

- The highest paid municipal employee in the state in 2009-10 was Town of Clarkstown Police Chief Peter Noonan, who earned a total of $301,534.

- Among those appearing on multiple payrolls during the year, the individual with the most numerous employers was Raynor Duncombe, who earned $36,959 as a part-time attorney for 11 Schoharie County jurisdictions.

- One individual who appeared on both the "highest-paid" and "multiple employers" list was Michael J. Bolender, who collected a total of $249,979 in salaries while working for six different western New York towns and villages.

- The highest average salary for any group--$158,965--was reported for the 46 officers employed by the Village of Lynbrook on Long Island. Among larger employers, the town of Clarkstown paid its 168 cops a state-leading average of $146,067. Six-figure average salaries were the norm for local police and firefighters throughout Long Island and the lower Mid-Hudson region.

- For general employees outside the police and fire pension system, the top average salary of $81,172 was paid by the Village of Old Westbury. Among counties, Westchester general employees were paid the highest statewide average salary at $69,607. Among cities, Yonkers topped the statewide list at $71,659. And among towns, the statewide leader was yet another Westchester jurisdiction--New Castle, at $67,126.

Source: Office of Special Counsel, July 27, 2010

In light of the many questions the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has received concerning Social Media, OSC provides the following guidance on the issue, in the form of frequently asked questions concerning less restricted and further restricted federal employees (see questions one through eleven) as well as federal agencies (see questions twelve through fourteen).

Note: This guidance refers primarily to Facebook and Twitter in the following questions due to the popularity of those sites for social networking, but the advice provided in response to these questions applies equally to all other social media, such as Myspace, Linkedin, etc.

Source: Richard E. Biddle and Daniel A. Biddle, Labor Law Journal, Vol. 61 no. 2, Summer 2010
(subscription required)

On June 29, 2009, the United States Supreme Court handed down the first Title VII ruling answering the difficult question: "Under what circumstances can an employer subject to Title VII implement otherwise prohibited disparate-treatment discrimination to avoid disparate impact liability?" Ricci v. DeStefano answered this difficult question and, in so doing, presented some additional layers to the Title VII framework relevant to both disparate impact and disparate treatment cases that must be applied in the future by federal courts. This article discusses these implications. The Supreme Court in Ricci adopted a "strong-basis-in-evidence standard" as a matter of statutory construction for courts to use as a means of resolving conflicts between Title VII's disparate-treatment and disparate-impact provisions - "allowing violations of one in the name of compliance with the other only in certain, narrow circumstances." This article introduces the concept of a "Croson Study," for 20 years limited in its application to contracting issues in the public sector, for employment issues to assist employers meet the Ricci-set "strong-basis-in-evidence standard." The second part of this article, appearing in the next issue, will provide some specific applications of Croson Studies.

Source: Robert N. Roberts, Public Administration Review, Volume 70, Issue 4, July/August 2010
(subscription required)

From the abstract:
What has been the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 decision in Ricci v. Destefano on the selection and promotion practices of public employers?; Relying solely on circumstantial evidence, the Supreme Court held that the Civil Service Board of New Haven, Connecticut, had engaged in Title VII disparate treatment discrimination by refusing to certify the results of a promotion examination that led, in turn, to a disparate impact on African American firefighters. To limit the discretion of public employers to disregard such selection and promotion exam results, the Ricci majority held that a public employer must "have a strong basis in evidence to believe it will be subject to disparate-impact liability if it fails to the take the race-conscious discriminatory action." This article argues that the decision effectively prohibits public employers from rejecting the results of selection and promotion instruments, even though there is evidence that screening instruments inequitably affect protected groups. It also forces public employers to become more careful in developing selection and promotion examinations or face the possibility of costly Title VII litigation.

Source: Donald J. Boyd and Lucy Dadayan, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, Data Alert, August 10, 2010

Friday's July employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that total employment in the nation declined by 131,000 jobs. The decline was driven by a combination of very weak growth in the private sector (+71,000 jobs), a large decline in federal government employment (-154,000) primarily reflecting the departure of 143,000 temporary Census 2010 workers, and a decline of 48,000 in state and local government jobs.

Source: Donald J. Boyd and Lucy Dadayan, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, July 23, 2010

Thirty-one states have cut state and local government employment over the past year, while 18 others have added public-sector jobs, according to June data. Local government employment, dominated by education jobs, accounts for the largest number of lost positions. Drops in the public sector remain smaller than in private industry, but are likely to deepen in the months ahead.
See also:
2009 report: "State/Local Employment Up"

Source: Paul Abowd, Mark Brenner, Labor Notes, July 22, 2010

The stock market may be climbing, but city and state budgets across the country are stuck in a downward spiral.

From California to Maine, double-digit deficits have left civil servants with a giant bull's-eye on their backs, as politicians across the spectrum have pushed furloughs, layoffs, wage cuts, and farther-reaching measures like pension modifications as the main way to close yawning budget gaps.

Source: Robert Barkin, American City & County, Vol. 125 no. 6, June 2010

As employee benefits get chopped, how will governments attract and retain people with the right skills?