ATTACHMENT 3
HUMAN RESOURCES STAFF REPORT ON KEY
ISSUES PRESENTED BY TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEES
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide information regarding the issues presented by the employee group from the Transportation Department at the May 18 Council meeting.
EMPLOYEES’ REQUEST - ISSUE 1: PAY PROGRESSION, PAY SCALE AND COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS (COLA:)
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON PAY ISSUES
New employees in Town jobs are generally hired into the pay range for the job at the beginning step. Once the new employee successfully completes probation, the pay is advanced to the next step in the range.
The Council considers changes to employee pay and pay ranges each year as a part of the budget process. If the Council approves merit increases, eligible Town employees move up one step in the range. If the Council does not authorize merit increases and, instead, authorizes a pay range adjustment, then employee pay stays at the same step and pay ranges are increased. In such cases, the dollar value of all steps is increased and employees receive the amount of the increase.
The history of changes to ranges and step increases authorized by the Council for the past six years is shown below.
|
Fiscal Year |
Step Increase |
Range Adjust-ment |
Average Total Increase Percentage |
|
1999-00 |
X |
X |
4.75 |
|
2000-01 |
X |
X |
4.25 |
|
2001-02 |
X |
X |
4.50 |
|
2002-03 |
X |
|
3.78 |
|
2003-04 |
|
X |
3.00 |
|
2004-05 |
X |
|
3.78 |
In any year when the Council authorizes a pay range adjustment, the range maximums increase, as do the minimums and midpoints of each range. This periodic adjustment and upward movement of the range maximums allows for future advancement potential for all employees. Only 13 Town employees are currently at the maximum of their pay range. All are long-term employees.
The Council has adopted a Town Pay Plan which recognizes employees by merit or performance pay rather than cost of living adjustments. The Council has also provided market (range) adjustments that are granted to eligible employees when authorized. The Manager’s pay recommendations to the Council each year provide data on pay offered by other employees in the Town’s labor market area and on the change in the cost of living.
Pay Distribution of Transit Operator II Employees
The Transit employee presentation focused on issues relating to Bus Drivers; these jobs are titled Transit Operator II and are assigned to pay grade 29 in the Town Pay Plan. The pay range, including annual and hourly amounts for steps 0-4, midpoint (step 5), and maximum are shown below for pay grade 29.
|
Grade 29 |
|
|
|
Steps |
Annual |
Hourly |
|
0 |
25,302 |
12.16 |
|
1 |
26,820 |
12.89 |
|
2 |
27,834 |
13.38 |
|
3 |
28,886 |
13.89 |
|
4 |
29,978 |
14.41 |
|
5 |
31,111 |
14.95 |
|
Maximum |
37,953 |
18.25 |
The pay distribution of the current 100 Full-time and Part-time Transit Operator II employees in relation to their years of service (as of June 1, 2005) is shown below.
|
Years of Service |
Step 0 |
Step 1 |
Step 2 |
Step 3 |
Step 4 |
Step 5 |
Open Range |
Maximum |
TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES |
|
Less Than 1 Year |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
1 to 4 years |
1 |
5 |
13 |
21 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
41 |
|
5 to 9 years |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
26 |
|
10 to 15 years |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
0 |
12 |
|
16 to 20 years |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
21 or more years |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
8 |
EMPLOYEES’ REQUEST - ISSUE 2: 40 HOUR WORK WEEK/RUN SCHEDULE
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON WORK SCHEDULE ISSUE:
The staffing authorized by the Council for the Transportation Department includes 86 Full-time Transit Operator II positions at 40 hours per week and 21 Part-time Transit Operator II positions at 26.5 hours per week.
We reviewed data from an eleven month period (July 1, 2004 to May 13, 2005); the report contains data for a total of 89 Full-time Transit Operator II employees and 22 Part-time Transit Operator II employees.
New employees are informed when they are hired that their work schedules will be variable as the service schedules change several times during the calendar year.
They also are informed that opportunities exist to work additional hours and that employees will not be paid for time not worked. All Town employees are able to use accrued paid leave for absences due to vacation, sick, and other approved reasons.
We explain to employees when they are hired that they occasionally may be required to work more hours than the regular assignment. They also are given an Employee Handbook which explains the Wage-Hour rules on how overtime is earned and paid and other important employment matters.
Full-time and Part-time Transit Operator II employees are allowed to choose or “pick” their desired work schedule from an array of scheduled runs. This process is called the “run pick” and occurs two or more times each year. Once run schedules are picked, the employee is expected to work that schedule until the next “pick” occurs.
In the current run schedule, there are 75 full-time runs, in which all runs include 38.5-41.5 hours per week. There also are 66 part-time pieces of work, with hours varying from 4.4 hours to 9.8 hours in length, which Full-time and Part-time drivers may select individually. In addition to these choices, there is an “Extra Board” option for employees. The Extra Board option provides a work schedule of 40 hours per week and contains 8 runs. The Extra Board is primarily comprised of routes created by planned absences of regular drivers (i.e. vacation request).
Employees are permitted to choose their run schedule on the basis of seniority within their work group. There are seniority lists for fulltime, part-time and temporary employee groups for each job group (Transit Operator I, II, III, etc.).
Any employee, Full-time, Part-time or temporary, who wishes to work more hours than their selected run provides is eligible to sign up for Extra List work. This list is a resource for response to unplanned absences each day and is maintained by the dispatchers.
Pay For Full-time Employees:
Reports for the period July 1, 2004-May 13, 2005 show that of the 89 Full-time Transit Operator II employees:
83 were paid for an average of 40 or more hours per week
5 were paid for an average of 36-39 hours per week
1 was paid for an average of 30-35 hours per week
The Full-time employee who was paid for an average of 30-35 hours weekly was out of work for an extended period due to a serious injury or illness. Of the 5 Full-time employees paid for an average of 36-39 hours weekly:
1 employee was not available for work for an extended period
4 employees had selected a run which was approximately 39 hours per week
All other employees were paid for an average of 40 or more hours per week.
Of the 83 Full-Time employees paid for an average of 40 or more hours per week:
49 employees were paid for an average of 40-44 hours weekly
15 employees were paid for an average of 45-49 hours weekly
19 employees were paid for an average of 50 or more hours weekly
Pay For Part-time Employees:
Of the 22 part-time Transit Operator II employees (expected work schedule of 26.5 hours per week):
11 were paid for 36 or more hours per week
3 were paid for 31-35 hours per week
7 were paid for 26-30 hours per week
1 was paid for less than 26 hours per week
The one employee paid for less than 26 hours per week was out for an extended period due to illness.
Overtime Pay:
The Town is covered by the rules and regulations issued by the Department of Labor on how work time is to be recorded and paid. Employees in jobs which are determined by these regulations to be non-exempt (also referred to as hourly) must be paid overtime as directed by these rules. These regulations are commonly referred to as FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) or Wage-Hour rules.
The Town complies with these regulations. Compliance is monitored carefully and regularly by the Human Resources and Finance/Payroll departments.
All Transit Operator jobs are non-exempt (covered by FLSA rules). Employees in these jobs are paid overtime (defined as one-and-one-half times the regular hourly rate) when they work more than 40 hours in the seven-day workweek. The workweek begins at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday and ends at midnight on Friday.
The FLSA rules do not require that non-exempt employees be paid at an overtime rate in any week when the hours worked do not exceed 40. This includes any workweek in which an employee works less than 40 hours and uses accrued vacation, sick, funeral, or civil leave to be paid for the full 40 hours as usual.
Non-worked accrued leave hours are paid at the regular hourly rate and are used by the employee in lieu of work hours to achieve the amount of the regular check. FLSA rules state that these non-worked hours are not to be used in combination with hours worked to reach 40 or more, which would result in overtime pay for that workweek.
When a non-exempt employee, whether Full-Time, Part-Time or temporary, works hours beyond the expected work schedule, these hours are paid at the regular hourly rate until hours worked in the work week exceed 40. These extra hours beyond the scheduled work hours but fewer than 40 hours total are called “extra-time straight-time hours”.
As required by FLSA regulations, when the hours worked in a workweek exceed 40, all hours worked over 40 are paid at one-and-one-half times the regular hourly rate.
For the period July 1, 2004 to May 13, 2005, of the 89 Full-Time Transit Operator II employees:
27 employees earned 60 or more extra-time straight-time hours
13 employees earned 40-59 extra-time straight-time hours
16 employees earned 26-39 extra-time straight-time hours
33 employees earned 0 -25 extra-time straight-time hours
Of the 22 Part-Time Transit Operator II employees:
7 employees earned 36 or more extra-time straight-time hours
1 employees earned 26-30 extra-time straight-time hours
14 employees earned 0-25 extra-time straight-time hours
Once a Full-Time or Part-Time employee has worked 40 hours in a workweek, overtime pay at one-and-one-half times the regular hourly rate goes into effect. The employees making the oral presentation asked that employees begin earning overtime pay at one-and-a-half times the regular hourly rate “once they have completed their scheduled hours”. This would mean, for example, that a Part-Time employee scheduled to work 26 hours per week would begin earning overtime at one-and-one-half times the regular rate for any hours worked beyond 26 in a seven day period.
The Town practice (in compliance with the Federal Wage-Hour rules) is that if the Part-Time employee in this example works additional hours beyond the 26 hours scheduled, the additional time worked is paid as extra-time straight time ( at the regular hourly rate) until the employees’ hours worked in the seven day workweek exceed 40. From that point on, any additional hours worked in that work week are paid at the overtime rate, which is one-and-a-half times the regular hourly rate.
During the time period July 1, 2004 to May 13, 2005, of the 89 Full-Time Transit Operator II employees, the following earned hours of overtime as shown at the time and a half rate:
59 earned 60 or more hours of overtime
10 earned 40-59 hours of overtime
5 earned 26-39 hours of overtime
15 earned 0-25 hours of overtime
Overtime Opportunity:
Of 89 Full-Time Transit Operator II employees for the period July 1 to May 13, 2005:
87 employees were paid extra-time straight-time
88 employees were paid overtime at time-and-a-half the regular rate
Of the 22 Part-Time Transit Operator II employees for the period July 1 to May 13, 2005:
19 employees earned extra-time straight-time
19 employees earned overtime at the time-and-a-half rate
All Full-Time, Part-Time and temporary Transit Operator II employees have the opportunity to work hours beyond the regular schedule. Working beyond the regular schedule requires some flexibility from the employee as to the schedule by which these hours are worked. Special events, coverage for expected and unexpected absences and other variables have an effect on the staffing levels needed from week to week.
EMPLOYEES’ REQUEST - ISSUE 3: ATTENDANCE POLICY
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON ATTENDANCE POLICY ISSUE:
As mentioned above, the Attendance policy in the Transportation Department is currently under revision by a team comprised of the Operations Manager, the Transit Employee Forum and all Transit Operators, Dispatchers and Supervisors. We will defer detailed response on some of the bullet items here to allow that review and revision process to be completed.
The number of vacancies for Transit Operator II positions is currently 5 Part-Time and 2 Full-Time, with active recruitment underway. A training class of new employees has just been completed and the next class following employment offers is expected to yield 4 to 6 additional Transit Operators. Recruitment and training are expected to be ongoing and cyclical throughout the year.
The number of Extra-Board driver allotments is in line with the industry standard. The replacement factor and Extra-Board component was analyzed by an outside consultant and established based on their recommendation.
Run switches to alter the employees’ assigned work schedule without using paid leave may be requested by Transit Operator II employees to the dispatchers and are approved after review by the dispatchers and Operations Manager. Employees may not independently arrange run switches among themselves without review and approval. This supervisory review is necessary to assure that unnecessary and unbudgeted overtime is not generated by a run switch.
The Town’s present policies allow vacation time to be used for whatever purposes employees wish. The Town’s policies do not provide a special category of leave called “personal days”.
Adding one additional paid day off for all Town employees would cost $114,000 annually.
EMPLOYEES’ REQUST - ISSUE 4: SPLIT TIME POLICY
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON SPLIT TIME SCHEDULES:
Split time schedules are a business practice necessitated by the time distribution of the demand levels of bus service for the Town. A split run is one which begins in the early morning hours of the day, stops usually 3 to 4 hours later, then resumes after a three to four hour pause and continues for another 3 to 4 hours.
Schedules are changed 3 or more times annually, to reflect changes in demand during the school year and the summer season. Some Transit Operator II positions are full-time and some are part-time to increase scheduling capabilities within these variations.
The maximum duration of a split shift is 12.5 hours which produces 7.7 work hours for that day. Only one such run exists in the current schedule.
(See Attachment A for chart on Bus Routes in service by time of day.)
To reduce the proportion of split runs from which full-time employees pick, the Department converts any fulltime run which would have a split of more than 5 hours to two or more part-time runs which can be independently picked by part-time employees.
Work scheduling and expectations are discussed with all new employees when hired. Employees are aware of this system when they accept the job.
EMPLOYEES’ REQUEST -ISSUE 5: BUS MAINTENANCE, SAFETY AND CLEANLINESS
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON BUS MAINTENANCE, SAFETY AND CLEANLINESS ISSUES:
Lack of Working Radios:
The Transportation Department has worked to determine why radio transmissions to and from buses were not occurring at a dependable and satisfactory level of quality. The problem was determined to be in the main transmitter rather than the radios. Rather than producing a signal strength of 100 watts, the signal was operating at 17 watts. Actions were taken to remedy this situation. As of May 26, 2005, the transmitter system is operating at full strength. This significantly improved the quality of radio reception. An outside vendor makes weekly visits to repair any defective individual radios. We believe the radios now are working properly.
Number of Buses on Deadline or Without Inspection Stickers:
As of Friday, June 3, 2005, 14 buses of the total bus fleet of 83 are out of service for repair. Seven of these buses are now in California undergoing full refurbishment. The deadline list varies daily, depending on the availability of parts for repairs.
There was a problem with some buses having overdue safety inspection stickers in the winter. The Department found that 14 buses had overdue safety inspections. The Maintenance department staff took action to bring all inspections up to date. There are no buses in service now which have overdue safety inspection stickers.
Bus Fueling Issue:
2.5 Service Attendant jobs are currently vacant; two positions are under recruitment and one is being held vacant for the return of the employee from required military service. Two months ago, the work schedules of some of the maintenance staff were adjusted to improve timely completion of fueling. There have been no delays in morning “pull-outs” (the scheduled starting times for the morning runs) for two months or more.
Bus Cleaning Issue:
The vacancy of service attendants and the higher priority assigned to fueling buses has adversely impacted the timely cleaning of buses. The Department head is evaluating use of outside vendors on a contract basis now to determine its feasibility to address this problem.
Issue Of No “On-Duty” Supervisor For Late Shift Runs:
There are three runs which are completed after the supervisor shift ends at midnight; these are provided as a special service requested by the University for student safety and security. The drivers for these runs can contact an on-call supervisor by phone if assistance is needed. The Police Department is also available to assist; late-night drivers may check out cell phones which can be used to call 911.
EMPLOYEES’ REQUEST - ISSUE 6: UNIFORMS
INFORMATION FROM STAFF ON UNIFORMS ISSUE:
Each driver is provided a $250 allowance annually for uniforms. Employees who wish to purchase additional uniform items beyond this allowance are permitted to do so at their own expense. The annual allowance can be used by the employee at any time during the budget year as desired until the employees’ allotment is spent. There is no limit on timing of ordering. The records show that wait time for uniforms average 4 to 6 weeks between order and delivery of items.
The current amount budgeted for all Transit employees for uniforms is $43,925; of this total, $38,675 is for Operations and $5,250 is for Maintenance.
ATTACHMENTS