HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2020 0408 SPC CC ITEM 10HCITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA
City Council Meeting
of April 8, 2020
ACTION Approved staff recommendation.
BY B.Garza.
H. Consider Side Letter Amending Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721. Staff
Recommendation: Approve the Side Letter with SEIU Local 721, subject to City
Manager final language approval, and authorize the City Manager to sign the
Side Letter. (Staff: Deborah Traffenstedt)
Item: 10.H.
MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable City Council
FROM: Deborah S. Traffenstedt, Assistant City Manager
DATE: 04/08/2020 Special Meeting
SUBJECT: Consider Side Letter Amending Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The City's approved MOU with SEIU Local 721 was for a two-year term that ends June 30,
2020. Although negotiations for the successor MOU will soon begin, and we have already
received SEIU’s formal request to open the City and SEIU Local 721 MOU, staff has been
working with SEIU Local 721 since November 2019 to reach concurrence on a Side Letter
to amend Standby language, including increasing the hourly compensation for employees
assigned Standby duty. We have reached mutual concurrence on a Side Letter that will
only be effective through the remaining term of the current MOU. Making this change now
will assist with developing the subsequent Standby language for the successor MOU and
also for the update to the City’s Personnel Rules. SEIU Local 721 has reviewed and
concurs with the attached draft Side Letter.
The legislative format in the attached draft Side Letter shows the changes to the MOU
language and also includes tentative language for the next update of the Personnel Rules.
Although the proposed Side Letter will increase Standby compensation, no budget
amendment is required for the current fiscal year, since compensation for Standby duty is
already budgeted for the Public Works Department, a Mid-Year adjustment was recently
approved by the City Council, and the remaining funds will cover the small increase in
Standby compensation through the end of the current fiscal year. Also, the Parks,
Recreation and Community Services Department has salary savings due to vacant
positions that can be used for the last few months of the current fiscal year to pay for any
assigned Standby duty.
While Standby duty has typically been assigned to Public Works Department employees,
the intent is to provide training to a larger number of employees in both the Public Works
Department and the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, so as to
increase the pool of employees qualified to respond to a Standby call and to respond to a
request for Call Back for emergency incident response. Employees who are assigned
Standby duty are required to:
Item: 10.H.
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Honorable City Council
04/08/2020 Special Meeting
Page 2
1.Be readily reachable at all times when on standby duty by a City cell phone if
provided or employee cell phone or home phone.
2.Refrain from activities which might impair the employee’s ability to perform
their assigned duties.
3.Be ready while on standby duty to respond to call back duty within a thirty
(30)-minute response time to the employee’s primary worksite.
The City is expected to benefit from the proposed Standby compensation changes by
increasing the number of employees who will be trained to respond and will want to
voluntarily participate. Funding for employees responding to “Call Back” is already
budgeted as overtime pay.
FISCAL IMPACT
As discussed in this report, sufficient funding remains for the adopted Fiscal Year 2019/20
Budget to pay for Standby duty, and a Budget amendment is not required. The Side Letter
expires on June 30, 2020, consistent with the term of the current MOU.
COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE
This action assists with making progress on City Council Strategy 4, Goal 1, Objective
2 (4.1.2): “Present an update of the City’s Personnel Rules to City Council by December 31,
2020.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Approve the Side Letter with SEIU Local 721, subject to City Manager final language
approval, and authorize the City Manager to sign the Side Letter.
Attachment: Draft Side Letter
132
ATTACHMENT
SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT
BETWEEN CITY OF MOORPARK AND
SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL
UNION CTW, CLC, LOCAL 721
This Side Letter of Agreement (“SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT”) is by and
between the City of Moorpark (“CITY”) a Municipal corporation, located in the County of
Ventura, State of California, and Service Employees International Union CTW, CLC, Local
721 (“SEIU LOCAL 721”), and is made and entered into this _____ day of March, 2020, by
and between the CITY and SEIU LOCAL 721 with reference to the following recitals:
RECITALS
WHEREAS, SEIU LOCAL 721 is the exclusively recognized employee organization
for the Competitive Service employees of the CITY; and
WHEREAS, SEIU LOCAL 721 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with
the CITY, effective for a term effective from July 1, 2018, up to and including Midnight,
June 30, 2020 (MOU); and
WHEREAS, the CITY and SEIU LOCAL 721 have met and conferred on a SIDE
LETTER OF AGREEMENT to temporarily modify the “STANDBY PREMIUM PAY”
language in the MOU for the purpose of increasing standby compensation through the
expiration date of the 2018-2020 MOU; and
WHEREAS, this SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT shall expire on June 30, 2020.
NOW, THEREFORE, the CITY and SEIU LOCAL 721 agree as follows:
I. A new Section 607 is hereby added to ARTICLE 6, SALARY PLAN AND
COMPENSATION, of the MOU to read as follows:
“STANDBY PREMIUM PAY: Competitive Service employees who are placed on
standby duty to respond to emergencies shall be compensated $3.00 per hour for a
regular work day and $4.00 per hour for a non-regular work day (holiday, weekend,
or regular day off). The hourly rate for standby shall be calculated to the nearest
one quarter hour of assigned standby duty.”
II. Section 1406.I of the 2018-2020 MOU (pertaining to Standby Premium Pay
language to be amended in the Resolution of the City Council establishing
Personnel Rules for Competitive Service Employees) is agreed to be amended and
replaced in its entirety for the term of this SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT to read
as follows:
Amendment No. 1 to 2014-2015 MOU between SEIU Local 721 and the City of Moorpark Page 1
133
Section 4.12.2. Standby Premium Pay: Should an employee be placed on
standby duty between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (standby period), such
employee shall be compensated twenty dollars ($20.00) for each assigned standby
period. Standby duty assigned at any other time of day shall be compensated for
actual time on call at the rate of $2.00 per hour, which shall be calculated to the
nearest one-quarter hour of assigned standby duty. ,such employee shall be
compensated for actual time on call consistent with the compensation approved in a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), including any Amendment or Side Letter of
Agreement to the MOU for Competitive Service employees.
Actual time worked as a result of a callback to duty shall be paid in accordance with
Section 4.12.1 (Callback). No employee shall be paid an hourly rate for callback
and standby simultaneously. Employees who fail to or refuse to respond to phone
calls when assigned to standby duty shall not receive standby pay for that assigned
shift. Employees standby hours shall not constitute hours worked under the Fair
Labor Standards Act.
Standby duty requires that employees so assigned:
1. Be readily reachable at all times when on standby duty by a City cell phone if
provided or employee cell phone or home phone.
2. Refrain from activities which might impair the employee’s ability to perform
their assigned duties.
3. Be ready while on standby duty to respond to call back duty within a thirty
(30)-minute response time to the employee’s primary worksite.
The City will establish a Standby calendar showing the names of the employees
scheduled to work standby duty, and a preliminary standby schedule will be posted
no less than one month in advance. Standby schedule change requests by
employees should be submitted to a supervisor or department head for approval
consideration no less than one work day in advance of the scheduled standby duty
(except as described in this paragraph for an emergency or unplanned situation) to
ensure there is time for the supervisor or department head to find another employee
available to accept the standby duty assignment. If an employee is scheduled for
standby and determines after regular work hours that he or she cannot respond to
standby duty telephone calls and call back duty due to an emergency or unplanned
situation, such as illness or lack of child care, the employee shall notify their
supervisor or department head by telephone call and/or text message of the
required scheduling change. All schedule changes must be updated on the Standby
calendar no later than the next regular work day and prior to timesheet submittal to
ensure accurate timesheet reporting.
Standby duty pay doesmay not apply when a City’s Emergency Operations Center
has been activated and an employee may beis assigned to a work shift other than
his/her regular shift.
2020 Side Letter of Agreement between SEIU Local 721 and the City of Moorpark Page 2
134
III. Effective Date:
This SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT, including the Standby Premium Pay change,
shall become effective on the first day of the pay period in which the City Council
approval occurs, subject to full execution of the SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT by
the CITY and SEIU LOCAL 721.
IV. Remaining Provisions:
Except as revised by this SIDE LETTER OF AGREEMENT, all of the provisions of
the 2018-2020 MOU shall remain in full force and effect.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this SIDE LETTER OF
AGREEMENT to the 2018-2020 MOU between LOCAL 721 and the CITY to be executed
the day and year first above written.
ON BEHALF OF THE CITY: ON BEHALF OF SEIU LOCAL 721:
___________________________ ______________________________
Troy Brown, City Manager Danny Carrillo, SEIU LOCAL 721
Chief Negotiator
ATTEST:
___________________________
Ky Spangler, City Clerk
2020 Side Letter of Agreement between SEIU Local 721 and the City of Moorpark Page 3
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