Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995 TAG: 9505040133
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Roy Clark settled into the folding metal chair he uses at his desk, crossed his arms and leaned forward. His blue eyes narrowed, and he enunciated for effect.
How many years has he worked for the state?
"I have 22 years and three months of state service - loyal and dedicated state service," said Clark, who's run Virginia Tech's moving operation out of the physical plant for most of those years.
For three weeks, Clark has stewed over his rejected application to retire early under the state's recently offered buyout plan. Under the Workforce Transition Act, he could have earned $900 a month. Now, he has to wait three more years to earn $484. His wife, Barbara, applied for her own retirement after years cashiering at the Christiansburg Kroger. When his buyout was rejected, she had to renegotiate a departure date for hers.
Early Wednesday, Clark filed a standard employee grievance with the university. Later in the day, Gov. George Allen gave Clark and others like him a little more hope. Allen, whose administration wants to cut the state work force, set up a separate appeal for workers rejected under the buyout who still want to leave their state jobs.
Clark found his deflated spirits lifted. At least a little.
"Well," he said, informed of the news, "I would have to say it would be better than nothing. I don't think the grievance is going to amount to a whole lot, if you want to know my opinion."
Clark's not the only one frustrated. Some buyouts were rejected because employees' jobs were deemed "essential," and agencies couldn't afford to hold them open while paying out severance packages. Statewide, more than 7,000 applied for the buyout; more than 5,000 were accepted. At Tech, 294 applied, and 45 were rejected. Of those, 38 worked in the university's physical plant.
"At a minimum, we want employees to be able to make their case and to be heard by their management there," said Mike Thomas, the state's secretary of administration.
"But we also want them to understand that it's certainly not possible to accept all of them - or it doesn't seem likely. It depends on who applied."
Thomas also said the appeal is aimed at employees in some agencies "who claim that they were not allowed to apply by agency personnel, which, of course, was contrary to the governor's policy."
Ray Smoot, Virginia Tech's vice president for finance, had not read the governor's order late Wednesday, but said the university "will follow whatever process has been established by the state government."
In the controller's office at Tech, Marilyn Ferry had found herself confused by the whole buyout program. Originally, there were two plans: One offered by Allen back in December, and then the transition act set up by the General Assembly and signed into law in March. Employees had until March 31 to sign up. Ferry, who audits vouchers every day so the university doesn't fall behind on its bills, applied for the first plan. She says she was approved, then told to wait for the second, for which she'd be eligible.
"It just became very confusing," said Ferry, who was rejected for the transition act buyout. "It seemed not to be a problem the first time, but I'm essential the second."
The definition of "essential" seems to have raised some problems for some employees.
"I was turned down because I'm in such an irreplaceable position, the university can't afford to let me go," Clark said last week, surprised that he can't simply train a successor and move on.
The man who runs the physical plant, Spencer Hall, pointed to the budget. It would cost $880,000 to pay off the 38 workers who want to take the buyout or retire, Hall said. He rejected them all, saying the department couldn't afford it.
"That would have to come out of our salary base," Hall said. "There is no magic pot of money either at the university or the state to pay out these severances."
Smoot, Hall's boss, put it this way: "Who's going to move people, or do the groundswork for the next year, while we're paying out these additional benefits?"
Even though the state has a hiring freeze, Virginia Tech will be allowed to rehire 10 percent of its departed workers, Smoot said. After severance packages are paid, the university can rehire workers if it shows the job is directly related to long-standing restructuring plans. Administrators at the financially strapped university have said all along that severance packages would tie up finances to pay new hires for about a year.
Many involved in the program, from workers to administrators, say that the hurried pace of its schedule made it hard for everyone. Under the plan, workers could earn up to two weeks' pay for each year served, up to 36 weeks.
"There's no secret we were not supportive of the [bill] when it was first proposed," Thomas said.
"We worked with the legislature to reduce the cost," said Thomas, who said the administration "expressed concern we were doing this thing too fast."
"The legislature sent it over and essentially dared the governor to sign it or veto it. After looking at it, even though it was fairly expensive, we decided it was better to have employees leaving voluntarily than potentially facing layoffs.''
Ann Spencer, Tech's vice president for personnel and administrative services, said last week that instructions about the program evolved even as workers were trying to sign up.
"I think the speed of the implementation of the program created a very difficult decision for employees, and a difficult review process for our departments," she said.
HOW TO APPEAL
State employees who applied for, but did not receive,
the state's recent buyout offer can appeal. Here's how.
Employees must make an appeal in writing by May 20, stating why they believe their denials should be reversed.
The agency has 15 days to review the appeal under criteria set by the state Department of Personnel Training and other laws and executive orders. If the agency head decides the denial should be reversed, the agency head is authorized to approve the application and notify the director of the Department of Planning and Budget and the responsible Cabinet secretary.
If the agendy head rejects the appeal, it then is sent to the director of the Department of Employee Relations counselors for further consideration.
The director then delivers a recommendation to the appropriate Cabinet secretary and the director of the Department of Planning and Budget, who may reverse the original denial. If, however, both officers agree that the worker's appeal should be denied, the appeal process ends.
The order also outlines appeal provisions for employees who were denied permission to apply for the buyout.
- Staff
by CNB