Pay cuts end for California state workers. When will raises show up on checks?
California state workers are earning full pay as of Thursday after a year earning less.
End-of-the-month paychecks will reflect workers’ restored salaries, along with new raises and other miscellaneous pay adjustments state employee unions negotiated with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration over the last six weeks, State Controller’s Office spokeswoman Jennifer Hanson said in an email.
The Legislature approved the deals this week and sent them to Newsom.
“The State Controller’s Office anticipates processing personnel and payroll changes approved via the Memorandum of Understanding bill(s) moving through the Legislature and to the governor in time for July 2021 pay issued August 1, 2021,” Hanson said in the email.
Restoring pay for 230,000 state workers across roughly 150 departments and 21 employee groups is a complex task the Controller’s Office administers on software from the Vietnam War era, in conjunction with the state Human Resources Department.
When the pay cuts were implemented a year ago, a Controller’s Office mistake related to retirement contributions let many state employees keep about $100 more than they were supposed to.
When mistakes are made or pay changes aren’t finalized in time, the office makes retroactive corrections.
Most state employees took a base pay cut of 9.23% starting last July, after their unions negotiated furlough-like personal leave programs with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.
Workers received two flexible days off per month in exchange for the pay reduction, which they’re able to bank and use at their discretion.
The leave program, referred to as PLP 2020, also suspended raises employees were scheduled to receive under their union-negotiated contracts, and it gave employees a break on the retirement health insurance contributions they normally make.
Newsom initiated the pay cuts, which were approved by the Legislature, when budget projections made early in the coronavirus pandemic showed the state facing a $54 billion budget deficit. The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated the cuts would save about $2.4 billion in a year while adding to the state’s long-term liabilities.
The gloomy projections never materialized, since well-off Californians continued to earn money and pay taxes through the pandemic, and the state now has a roughly $80 billion surplus.
Given the change, Newsom’s administration negotiated with unions to end the pay cuts a year earlier than many of the agreements were scheduled to last.
Suspended raises are also being restored, and employees must resume contributions to their retirement health insurance, which range from 1.4% to 4.4%.
The agreements state employee unions reached with Newsom’s administration to restore pay came in two forms: full contract agreements and side letter agreements. Each of the agreements makes various changes to pay.
Correctional officers, for example, are set to receive nearly $5,000 in pandemic bonuses and new batches of covid-related leave under an agreement the California Correctional Peace Officers Association negotiated with Newsom’s administration.
Prison maintenance workers will receive pay differentials for areas with high costs of living and recruitment struggles.
Several groups of employees will pay new percentages toward their pensions, and California Highway Patrol officers will see a new deduction for retirement health insurance as the state moves toward collecting contributions from officers the same way it collects them from everyone else. The program was different for officers due to a historical quirk in the way the program has been administered.
The only state employee union that didn’t reach a new agreement with Newsom’s administration was Cal Fire Local 2881. Since the firefighters had a one-year agreement, their pay will be restored starting this month even without a new agreement.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Pay cuts end for California state workers. When will raises show up on checks?."