Second of a series
Re “City Hall – Now How Does This Layoff Plan Work?”
City Manager John Nachbar wants the community to know that the 14 City Hall staffers momentarily laid off on April 25 did not receive special privileges.
Just because the Unhitched 14 immediately were offered alternative positions, within the building, at the same pay, regardless of the new job’s pay scale, it was not to be read as a display of partiality, humaneness or loyalty.
Well, maybe humaneness.
Then he talked about a strategy he has been developing.
As Mr. Nachbar pointed out earlier, the 14 suddenly-filled jobs had been vacated for various amounts of time and reasons – some because of last winter’s golden handshake offer.
“In all cases,” he said, “these were not positions we were planning to eliminate.
“In anticipating that we would eliminate positions, I have been very careful in the (21 months) I have been here. I have been extremely stingy about not filling certain positions knowing that at some point those vacancies would be useful for employees’ whose positions might be eliminated.
“In most cases,” the City Manager said, “the positions the laidoff people were moved into are roughly equivalent in compensation and salary.
“They will continue to make their current salaries in their new jobs even though a minority of them pay less. This is known as y-rated, and it means that now as we move forward into the future, they will not receive salary increases if or until the compensation for their new position grows over time.
“Say an employee is making $70,000 and is moved into a position that makes $65,000. The person will continue making 70, but is frozen at that level into the future. Let’s say that over the next 10 years, that $65,000 position will grow to pay $70,000. At some point, it might grow to $75,000. The employee won’t receive an increase, though, if or until the pay for that position exceeds the person’s present salary.”
(To be continued)
