What is 71J?
71 J is a law that allows the County to contract out for the provision of services for reasons of economy and efficiency as long as the contract does not cause displacement of civil service employees. When we go through a layoff period, an analysis is performed to assess what job classes are affected and we must cancel any 71(j) contract if they have contractors performing the duties of our employees. The elimination of 71(j) contractors must be terminated prior to any lay-off of our affected employees.
How much has the County workforce been reduced?
In Fiscal Year 2008-09 there were 11 people laid off and in Fiscal Year 2009-10 year to date, 747 people have been laid off. These were full time employees. (as of April 2010)
The County has reduced its work force from approximately 14,500 employees to roughly 10,800 as of April 2012. This number includes full time employees and a variety of intermittent and seasonal employees.
The reduction also includes temps, retired annuitants, provisional and a variety of other position types that get reduced as part of the lay-off process. Some are also voluntary terminations.
Will the County consider offering retirement incentives (golden handshakes, payouts, etc.)?
We’ve looked at this very carefully and it doesn’t pencil out because in the short term it doesn’t save cash.
- Why doesn’t the County institute a ten percent salary decrease for everyone?
With our high percentage of represented employees we cannot legally cut employee salaries without them agreeing to it. However, our leaders are willing to take salary reductions to the extent that labor takes reductions.
- How many unions or represented employee organizations (REO’s) does the County have?
We have a total of 25 bargaining units and 18 different REO's.
