OLR RESEARCH REPORT

June 16, 2010 2010-R-0258

REGULAR PAY AND OTHER FORMS OF PAY FOR STATE EMPLOYEES

By: John Moran, Principal Analyst

You asked how certain state employees can earn thousands of dollars
in pay above their regular pay as reported in a recent newspaper article.

SUMMARY

The article “Top 50 Base Pay v. Actual Pay,” Waterbury Republican

American, May 9, 2010, correctly showed 50 state employees who in
2009 received significantly more in additional forms of pay than in
regular pay. More than 25 received over $100,000 in additional pay,
including two who received over $200,000.

The state Comptroller’s Office confirmed the pay figures for these
employees. The three largest factors in additional compensation are (1)
on-call, off-site pay; (2) on-call, on-site pay; and (3) overtime.

In March, the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and the

Department of Administrative Services (DAS) informed several state
agencies that it is improper to pay managers and, in most instances,
physicians what is called on-call, off-site pay. The agencies were ordered
to stop this pay for all managers and, except in certain limited situations
that require explicit approval, physicians.

Sandra Norman-Eady, Director Room 5300

Phone (860) 240-8400 Legislative Office Building
FAX (860) 240-8881 Connecticut General Assembly Hartford, CT 06106-1591
http://www.cga.ct.gov/olr Office of Legislative Research Olr@cga.ct.gov
 As for both on-call, on-site and overtime pay, these types of
compensation are provided for in union contracts that apply to state
residential facilities that must be staffed 24 hours a day (union contracts
only apply to non-managerial employees). Overtime rose considerably at
some facilities following the state 2009 retirement incentive plan that left
staff openings.

OFF-SITE ON-CALL AND ON-SITE ON-CALL PAY

In more than 15 of the cases cited, employees received significant

additional compensation in the form of on-call pay. This is broken into
two groups: off-site and on-site.

Off-site, on-call pay means the employee, usually a physician or

psychiatrist is not at the work site but is available by phone for
consultation if a problem arises with a patient or, in the case of the
Department of Correction (DOC), a prisoner. On-site, on-call means the
physician or psychiatrist is at the worksite, for example a Department of
Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) residential facility, and
stays overnight, sleeps at the facility, and is available to respond
immediately for any overnight emergency. While the employee is at the
site, the person may have considerable down time, so they are not paid
the same as they would during their regular working hours.

Memoranda Ordering Agencies to Cease Off-Site, On-Call Pay

In March 2010, OPM and DAS sent memoranda to DOC, the

Department of Children and Families (DCF), and DMHAS ordering them
to stop making any further on-call pay to physicians or psychiatrists who
are managers.

In 2009, the DOC clinical director received over $250,000 in off-site,

on-call pay on top of his regular annual pay of approximately $150,000.
The memo to the DOC commissioner reads, in part:

“Being on-call (off-site) is part of every manager’s job and

managers are expected to work the number of hours
necessary to get the job done. Just as managers are not to
receive compensatory time when working from home, they
are also not eligible to receive pay (or compensatory time)
for on-call duty when off-site.”

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 The letter to DOC noted that in 1988 DAS approved DOC’s request to
make off-site, on-call payments. It also ordered the authorization
suspended as of April 9, 2010 and stated any future approval will be
limited to on-call duty that is performed on-site. (The three OPM-DAS
memos are provided at the end of this report as attachments.)

The letter to DCF indicated there were two DAS orders that provided
guidelines for limited situations when managerial staff can be approved
for a on call pay by DAS. The letter states that under one order, DCF
paid on-call pay but never obtained DAS approval (this order has since
been revised). Under the other order, OPM and DAS indicated too many
managers were given off-site, on-call pay so the order was rescinded. “As
such all on-call payments to non-physician managers must be
discontinued immediately,” it said.

Furthermore, the letter stated there is an exception regarding off-site,

on-call pay when a physician from one facility covers for a physician at
another facility. Physicians under a union contract can receive off-site,
on-call pay only when there is no union physician available (usually due
to illness or vacations) who is assigned to a facility and a physician from
another facility is needed to temporarily cover. The letter noted that DAS
only approves such arrangements when needed and “must not be
structured as an ongoing part of your coverage . . .”

The DMHAS letter cited the agency for not obtaining approval under
the DAS guidelines for on-call pay for managerial staff. As with DCF,
DMHAS was ordered to stop making these payments until they were
approved by DAS.

As with DCF, the letter noted the temporary coverage exception that
allows a union physician from another facility to receive off-site, on-call
pay when there is no union physician available to cover on-site at that
facility.

Union Contract Provisions for On-Site, On-Call Pay

A number of psychiatrists and physicians at DCF and DMHAS also

received on-site, on-call pay, many well above $100,000 for the year. This
pay is provided for under the Professional Health Care Employees (P-1)
and Paraprofessional Health Care Employees (NP-6) Contract, New
England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199
(www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/olr/contracts/1199contract2009_2012.pdf).

June 16, 2010 Page 3 of 10 2010-R-0258

 The contract calls for on-site, on-call pay at $80 an hour with
established shifts. For example, the overnight shift is 16 hours, from
4:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. and pays $1,280.

According to the contract:

“Due to the hours and circumstances of these assignments,

the psychiatrist and/or physician may have considerable
“downtime.” The assignment is not equal to a regular shift of
normal work with a full compliment of duties and functions on
each shift.”

DMHAS indicated that this on-site night duty provides coverage at in-
patient facilities for the hours that a regular doctor is not assigned. The
agency always seeks volunteers to handle this overnight or weekend duty
and the physicians who appeared on the list in the newspaper were those
who volunteered more regularly than others. The agency noted that if
those individuals did not volunteer, other members of the same union
would have filled those duties and been paid accordingly.

OVERTIME

On the list of 50 employees, 22 were DMHAS employees who

increased their earnings through overtime and most of the shifts worked
were voluntary overtime. Voluntary overtime means the employee chose
to come in for an extra shift or to stay on at the end of a shift. In many
state in-patient facilities run by DCF or DMHAS, the agency must
provide 24-hour care. The workers involved were nurses, LPNs, and
mental health assistants.

Overtime increased considerably at some facilities following the state

2009 retirement incentive plan that left many staff openings. At the same
time, DMHAS has been preparing to close Cedarcrest Hospital’s
psychiatric wing, Cedar Ridge. Under union contracts, the employees
who lose their jobs at Cedar Ridge will be transferred to other DMHAS
positions. To keep positions open for these employees and avoid
“bumping” of less senior employees by more senior employees, DMHAS
did not immediately fill the open positions created by the retirement
incentive program. This led to increased overtime for some employees.

Furthermore, DMHAS notes that the vast majority of the overtime

worked was voluntary. If those staff did not volunteer and the shifts had
to be covered, then mandatory overtime would be used which pays
double time (rather than time and a half for voluntary overtime).
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 Also, the recruitment, vetting, and training process for nursing and
other staff at DMHAS facilities can take months. Filling in for vacant
positions during this time also contributed to the large amount of
overtime.

ATTACHMENTS

Memoranda to Agencies

DOC letter (Attachment 1):

DMHAS letter (Attachment 2):

DCF letter (Attachment 3):

JM:ts

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