CDCR Resources and Contact Information: For official information regarding CDCR reductions see CDCR’s Employee Layoff Resources Website. The CDCR Human Resources Helpline can be called between 8 am and 5 pm weekdays at 1-888-793-4473 (select option #2). You can email CDCR Human Resources department at HealthCare.HRhelp@cdcr.ca.gov (consider cc-ing your Labor Representative on all e-mails).
Posted February 9, 2012: UAPD Saves Thirteen Dental Positions
As a result of a class-action grievance UAPD filed against CDCR, fewer dentists will face layoff at the end of the month. Five of the twenty layoff notices issued to dentists were rescinded last week. CDCR has notified those five dentists that they can disregard the layoff notice they had been sent.
In addition, CDCR agreed to offer the remaining fifteen dentists on the layoff list a chance to transfer to one of the eight vacant positions that UAPD has identified. Even though the voluntary transfer process for this round of layoffs has finished, CDCR acknowledged that these vacancies should also be made available to dentists at risk of layoff.
CDCR will e-mail dentists who received a layoff notice a list of vacant positions and details about the process by which the positions will be offered; they expect to be able to send that e-mail today. Starting on a day that will be specified in that e-mail, CDCR representatives will call on the telephone the dentists who received layoff notices in order of seniority (highest seniority first) to allow them to select a position from the list of eight vacancies. Once reached on the telephone, each dentist will have a very short timeline in which to make a decision about transfer. CDCR says it will not move on to the next dentist on the list until the higher seniority dentist has had a chance to accept or decline a position. All dentists who accept a position will be given a written record of that fact. Again, more details will be provided in an email from CDCR shortly.
If you have questions, or information to share, please contact your UAPD Labor Representative. As always, UAPD will join with members to insist that the rights of all bargaining unit doctors are protected. And together we will work to protect as many jobs as we possibly can.
Posted February 1, 2012: UAPD to Meet Finance Director
Based on information provided by the dentists themselves, UAPD will present the Governor’s staff with a list of meaningful alternatives to reducing the number of dentists working in California prisons.
Posted January 25, 2012: UNION DEMANDS FACTS TO PROTECT MEMBERS
This week CDCR mailed some of its employed dentists an invitation to apply for two open positions, one Limited Term and one Permanent, at Mule Creek Prison in Ione. Needless to say, under the Voluntary Transfer agreement between UAPD and the CDCR, those Mule Creek positions should have been included in the Voluntary Transfer process, so that the dentists who are at-risk of layoff can fill them. The fact that the CDCR is advertising open dental positions in the midst of dental layoffs is a serious failure of both their layoff procedure and their common sense.To address this latest problem, UAPD has filed a class-action grievance against the CDCR. We are seeking a clear statement, once and for all, of all the required information UAPD has requested to ensure that the due-process rights of our members are being respected. We are demanding a report of the number and location of all open dental positions as of this moment, including those held by limited term or soon-to-retire dentists. We need to know which limited term dentists are still occupying open positions that should be replaced by a permanent dentist, and which are covering for permanent dentists who are expected to return from leave. We have recently learned that the CDCR has hired approximately more 10 registry dentists who are assigned at 8 CDCR facilities. UAPD is demanding that all open positions be recounted, and that those positions be made available for transfer based on seniority. We are also demanding to know the final number of voluntary transfer applications that were accepted and rejected. We need to know if every position was filled, and whether any new vacancies were created as a result of voluntary transfers, promotions, or retirements.
UAPD is scheduled to meet with the Department of Personnel Adminstration and the CDCR on January 31, 2012 to review the information demanded in this class action grievance. In the meantime UAPD is demanding that the DPA suspend the 30 day layoff notice to our members until the information requested is reviewed and meets the standard of AB 109 Realignment and the UAPD Sideletter that was negotiated in good faith. UAPD will insist that the due-process rights of all bargaining unit doctors are protected, and we will continue to protect as many jobs as we possibly can.
Deadline for CDCR Placement Options Worksheet Extended until January 10 at noon: The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has agreed to extend the deadline for returning the Placement Options Worksheet until Tuesday, January 10th at noon (not Monday January 9th at 5 pm as we previously reported). Doctors facing layoff due to the AB 109 reductions had initially not been given sufficient time to complete and return that form, UAPD argued.
Posted November 15, 2011: New Voluntary Transfer Process Deadlines Set
On Thursday, November 17th, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will send some Bargaining Unit 16 employees an Updated Memorandum on the Public Safety Realignment – Voluntary Transfer Process. This Updated Memorandum is the amended version of the Voluntary Transfer Notice sent in October 2011, which UAPD asked the CDCR to suspend because the total number of vacancies it listed for BU 16 doctors was too low.
The Updated Memorandum being sent this week will inform the doctors who are impacted by realignment that they can submit their Voluntary Transfer Request via the US mail by the postmark deadline of Saturday, November 26, 2011. The deadline for submitting the Voluntary Transfer Request via fax or email is Monday November 28th at 12 noon.
This Thursday CDCR will also provide impacted doctors with updated information regarding each location that is overstaffed or has vacancies. With the input of dentists in many work sites, UAPD was able to identify several vacancies that will now be listed as open to dentists under the Voluntary Transfer Process.
There continues to be far more psychiatrist vacancies than overages within the CDCR system, meaning that classification will see little impact. CDCR Physicians and Surgeons are not be subject to this wave of Voluntary Transfers, SROA notices, and layoffs. Instead, the Receiver’s Office will evaluate whether the reduction in the prison population necessitates the laying off or reassignment of some physicians. So far, no determination has been made.
The State Restriction of Appointment (SROA) seniority list will be available on the intranet and at CDCR facilities in the Personnel Office for review. The list contains the seniority scores for all of the dentist and psychiatrist classifications in CDCR.
Over the past several weeks UAPD has had numerous meet and confer sessions with the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) and the CDCR in an attempt to mitigate the impact of the Public Safety Realignment on our members, especially the dentists. UAPD President Dr. Stuart Bussey and UAPD’s Chief Legislative Representative Doug Chiappetta also spoke with Governor Jerry Brown and Secretary Matt Cate about the disparate reduction of our dentist positions and how that compromises inmate care, as stipulated in the Perez court order. UAPD has also demanded that the CDCR produce the inmate population numbers that they project will be in place by February 29, 2012, when the first wave of employee layoffs are scheduled to go into effect, in order to compare those numbers with the mandated ratios.
UAPD will continue its efforts to protect every possible job, and to make sure that when a layoff must occur it follows a process that is fair, transparent, and consistent with our contract. While CDCR has been responsive to some of our demands, they are proceeding against our recommendations in a number of areas, including the speed at which they are trying to complete the Voluntary Transfer Process. UAPD stands ready to advocate for its members to help resolve any problems that the CDCR has created in its management of AB 109 – Realignment.
Posted October 27, 2011: DPA, CDCR Suspend Voluntary Transfer Deadline and Agree to Recalculate Open Positions
To mitigate the effects of the Public Safety Realignment, the Voluntary Transfer process was supposed to begin by identifying all open dental positions within CDCR, including those being held by contractors and limited term dentists, so that dentists in impacted counties could request transfers.
UAPD received information from several dentists that the State violated the process for Voluntary Transfers that they agreed to follow. For instance, there should be be more than 2.5 dental vacancies offered for transfer when one counts all limited term and contractor positions in the state.
After a meeting called by UAPD, DPA and CDCR have acknowledged the errors and agreed to suspend the deadline for submitting Voluntary Transfer Requests. DPA and CDCR have also agreed to reexamine the number of vacant dental positions that should be made available for Voluntary Transfers, and to reexamine the list of dentists who received SROA notices, some of whom should not have.
As of this writing, the new deadline for submitting voluntary transfer requests and the corrected list of vacant positions list have not yet been made available. UAPD will continue to provide updates to members via e-mail, paper mail, and the UAPD website.
Have Limited Term Dentists or Dental Contractors working at your facility? Have questions or comments? Tell us what you know on this survey.
Posted October 21: Public Safety Realignment
This year the US Supreme Court ruled that 33,000 CDCR inmates must be released over the next few years from California’s overcrowded prisons, causing legislators to pass a “realignment” plan in the form of AB 109. In July of this year the CDCR mailed out seniority scores to all of its employees, in preparation for staff cuts that it says will accompany the prison population decrease. The following is a brief summary of the information that has been made available to UAPD regarding the classifications it represents within CDCR.
UAPD has been told that CDCR Physicians and Surgeons will not be subject to the SROA (State Restriction of Appointments) process. Instead, the Receiver’s Office will evaluate whether the reduction in the prison population necessitates the laying off or reassignment of some physicians. So far, no determination has been made. UAPD will meet with the Receiver’s Office and relate details of that meeting to members once it happens.
UAPD has met several times with DPA and CDCR regarding the impact of the AB 109 realignment on psychiatrists and dentists. Recently the State reported that it does plan to cut dentist and psychiatrist positions in CDCR. To mitigate those cuts, UAPD has negotiated an agreement that includes a Voluntary Transfer Plan that will allow dentists and psychiatrists who are at risk of being impacted by layoffs to transfer to open positions elsewhere in the state if they choose. Complete information on participating in the Voluntary Transfer Plan will be mailed in October to all dentists and psychiatrists working in counties where positions are being reduced. Note that the time frame for making a Voluntary Transfer will be very tight (ten days from receipt of notice).
Some people working in those classifications in counties where reductions are scheduled will receive SROA notices in November, despite the Voluntary Transfer process. Under a revised SROA process, the notices will go to all employees in impacted counties who have less than 10 years of service. Receiving an SROA notice does not mean a layoff notice will follow. Layoffs are scheduled to take effect February 29, 2012.
Those with questions are encouraged to contact their steward or Labor Representative.