Department of Mental Health (DMH)
SPB Expresses Concern Over Outsourcing at Atascadero State Hospital
Last year UAPD filed charges with the California State Personnel Board (SPB) over the contracting out of psychiatric services at the Department of Mental Health’s (DMH) Atascadero State Hospital facility. The Union argued that paying over $200 an hour to nearly 50 outside contractors was exacerbating, not alleviating, the shortage of permanent civil service employees, and that the Department’s use of contractors violated Government Code. UAPD appealed an initial ruling from the SPB Executive Officer, who was not persuaded by our commonsense arguments, and we are now happy to report that the SPB has issued an order requiring DMH to go through an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law judge to answer questions like “How did the Department come to compensate its contract psychiatrists at a rate so much higher than that paid to civil servant psychiatrists?” and “Has the high compensation paid by the Department to its contract psychiatrists resulted in a shortage of civil servant psychiatrists at Atascadero State Hospital?” UAPD through its attorneys will provide evidence at the hearing, a date for which has not yet been set.
SPB Order on Atascadero
Previous News on Atascadero Outsourcing
The UAPD's success in negotiating higher salaries for doctors working in the prison system had one downside--it threatened to exacerbate the already serious staffing shortages at other state medical facilities by attracting more doctors to CDCR positions. To prevent this, the UAPD negotiated with DPA for increases for the psychiatrists, physicians, surgeons, and dentists working in the DMH, DDS, and DVA. The Equity raises have been ratified by UAPD members and await legislative approval.
Plata Equity, Perez Equity, and Coleman Equity Raises Information