Re “Explaining Yesterday’s City Hall Layoffs”
According to civil service regulations, the 14 City Hall employees handed layoff notices last Wednesday have 30 days to decide whether to accept alternative employment.
Who needs time?
Serena Wright, the city’s Human Resources Director who delivered the long anticipated bad news, said most of them already have happily accepted the optional jobs.
The budget deficit-driven layoffs were directly caused by Gov. Brown’s elimination of the state’s Redevelopment Agencies last winter, effective Feb. 1.
This action runs parallel with City Manager John Nachbar’s months’ long campaign to encourage age 50 and older city workers to accept a golden handshake and give the budget desperately needed breathing room.
Ms. Wright told the newspaper that in the case of most laid off personnel, the alternate positions yield “similar or slightly lower” salaries. Where there are stepdowns, however, the city has agreed to make the salaries commensurate with their present pay scale.
Here is how it works:
“They would keep their present salaries,” Ms. Wright said, “and that salary would be frozen until the position they are moving into rises up to meet their current pay.”
She said the “majority” of (briefly) discharged employees accepted the new jobs “immediately.” “They are grateful to continue their employment with the city,” Ms. Wright said.
(To be continued)
