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State agencies await direction on CEC

Although the Legislature has adjourned and final bills have been forwarded to the governor for his signature, state agencies still don’t have clear direction on a compensation package for employees.

Mary Harker, ITD Human Resources manager, hopes clarification will emerge from meetings later this month involving the Division of Human Resources, Division of Financial Management, the Division of Administration and state agency leaders. They will meet in the morning on April 25 to discuss implementation of a CEC plan. An afternoon meeting is scheduled with human resource managers and fiscal officers of state agencies.

The purpose of the meetings is to resolve a difference in interpretations by the Department of Administration and the CEC (change in employee compensation) committee. Six legislators who serve on the committee recently forwarded a memo to Judie Wright, administrator of the Division of Human Resources, questioning a plan to implement a new pay structure.

A change in salary structure would require additional funds to implement – funds that were not included in the CEC legislation.

“The CEC Committee did not receive a formal recommendation from the Division of Human Resources regarding implementation and funding for a new or adjusted statewide structure as required by Idaho Code (67-5309),” wrote the six legislators who were involved in the CEC process.

“Consequently, the Committee could not adequately consider any funding recommendations for payline adjustments or pay structure changes. The language in HCR 49 (see related story) that outlines an unchanged pay system was included because the Legislature wanted the 3% CEC to be distributed across all current state employees, and not fund a pay structure change…

“It was not our intent to have any of the 3% CEC to be utilized towards this benefits collection process. Nor do we want to create any unintended negative consequences on state agency personnel budgets because of this provision.”