The appeal process hits full swing this week for 73 county employees—triple the number anticipated—who are dissatisfied with a pay scale adopted by the County Board in November.
At the time of the plan’s adoption, Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann estimated about 10 percent of the 250 employees affected by the plan, which took effect with the Dec. 29 pay period, were likely to appeal.
Under the plan, compensation increased from 0 to 8 percent. No employees had their wages cut; the few determined to be overcompensated had their pay frozen.
The first round of appeals is scheduled to be discussed Friday and Monday between department heads and representatives of Carlson-Dettmann Consulting. The Madison-based consultants performed an employee classification/compensation study for a fee of $55,000 and recommended the pay scale approved by supervisors.
The county’s Personnel and Wages Committee is scheduled to review Carlson-Dettmann’s recommendations on Feb. 6 and hold a second round of appeals on Feb. 7 and 13. Any changes to the pay plan will require approval from the committee and the County Board, which is scheduled to review the committee’s recommendations on March 20.
According to Hamann, whatever appeals are granted will take effect with the March 23 pay period; no retroactive pay will be given.
To begin the appeal process, employees completed a standard form and were allowed to attach additional information. Appeals ranged in size from a couple of pages to 25 pages. Committee members were given a thick binder of appeals to review.
Employees will generally not participate in the first round of appeals, Hamann said.
“We may ask the employee in for some questions, but it’s not a chance for the employee to sit there and argue with Carlson-Dettmann,” he said.
However, employees will be allowed to make their case directly to the Personnel and Wages Committee, although Hamann said it is hard to predict if their appeals will be granted.
“I think you’ve already made a decision on some of them that you are not going to consider years of experience for the employee as a factor,” Hamann told committee members on Jan. 7. Other decisions were not as clear-cut, he added.
County officials set aside $250,000 in the 2014 budget to cover the wage increases resulting from the study. Employee compensation increased about 30 percent in 2014 for a total of about $235,000 — an additional $178,000 for wages and $57,000 for fringe benefits.
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