BILL ANALYSIS
AB 944
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Ed Hernandez, Chair
AB 944 (Silva) - As Introduced: February 26, 2009
SUBJECT : Civil service: employee hearings.
SUMMARY : Specifically, this bill requires that state employee
termination hearings or investigations take priority over all
other cases that were initiated within the previous four months
by the State Personnel Board (SPB).
EXISTING LAW establishes the SPB as a neutral body responsible
for administering a merit system of civil service employment
within California state government. As part of its
responsibility, the SPB has established administrative
procedures to resolve appeals of alleged violations of civil
service laws and rules.
The SPB is required to issue a decision within a reasonable time
after the conclusion of the hearing or investigation. For most
appeals, the SPB has six months from the filing of an appeal or
90 days from its submission, whichever is less, to decide the
case. The SPB may extend this period by 45 days, as specified.
Should the employee prevail in his or her appeal, the SPB has
the authority to grant the following remedies: reinstatement
including back salary, benefits, and interest at 7%; change in
work assignment and/or location; or assignment of an alternative
or passing score on an examination. The SPB may also grant
compensatory damages in discrimination appeals.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to supporters, the SPB, "?has over 3,800
SPB employee cases to hear and not enough Judges to hear them.
When an employee is terminated they and their family suffer the
loss of their income and health benefits. SPB does not
prioritize their cases by importance but by blocks of time. If
SPB can hear more cases in a year by hearing numerous small
cases that require short blocks of time, then that is how they
are prioritized.
AB 944
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"Many of the terminated employees have to wait up to 18 months
to receive a hearing date because their cases require larger
blocks of time. Many terminated employees win their SPB cases.
When this happens and it often does, the state has to pay the
employee back wages, which more often than not is for over 2
years. This is a substantial amount of money to pay someone for
not working. Also, the employee is allowed to charge the state
7% interest of that money. During this 2-year period the
employee and their family have been known to suffer devastating
losses. Losses of home, credit, and divorce to name a few. It
is cruel and unusual punishment to make an employee wait up to
and beyond 2-years to find out that they should not have been
terminated."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Correctional Supervisors Organization (Sponsor)
California Association of Highway Patrolmen
California Association of Professional Scientists
Professional Engineers in California Government
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957