Employment Advisory Committee Meetings
EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE
MINUTES
September 1, 2005
Members Present
Commissioner Faye Woo Lee, Molly Baier, Jose Bondoc, Bridgett N. Brown, John Crowley, Jerry Jones, Suzanne Korey, Malik Looper
Members Absent
Ronnie Rhoe, F. Ross Woodall
Staff Present
Linda Chin, Kabir Hypolite and Carmen Smith
Guests
Greg Wagner, Ronald Freeman, Tony Coleman, Robert Bowden, Linda Evans, Dorsey Nunn
Call to Order/ Roll Call
The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Faye Woo Lee at 1:35p.m. A quorum was present.
Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved unanimously.
Approval of June 5, 2005 Special Meeting Minutes and August Meeting Minutes
Jose Bondoc moved to approve the August 2005 minutes. Molly Baier offered a correction to the September minutes at bullet point two. John Crowley seconded the motion. The August 2005 minutes were unanimously approved as amended. The June Special Meeting minutes were approved unanimously.
Commissioners Report
Commissioner Lee explained that she was in a conference for Chinese American Citizen’s Alliance and was unable to attend the August meeting. She thanked Jerry Jones for chairing the meeting in her absence.
Staff Report
Kabir Hypolite reported on his attendance at the August 15, 2005 San Francisco Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee special meeting chaired by Supervisor Aaron Peskin with Supervisors Sean Elsbernd and Chris Daly. This was the first major hearing on the Mayor’s proposed civil service reforms. Mr. Hypolite reported that Phil Ginsburg, Director of the Department of Human Resources presented a policy paper in which he discussed the department’s civil service reform process and findings. Mr. Hypolite noted that the Employment Advisory Committee’s focus on the proposed reforms is centered on how they will impact women and minorities in the City’s workforce and noted recent media attention to this topic.
At the Board’s special meeting Mr. Ginsburg cited a general discontent with the current civil service system among its members, the public, and elected officials. He characterized the system as slow, unresponsive, unfair, and under funded. Finally, he charged that the system fails to effectively support operational needs and fails to motivate employees. He highlighted four areas for civil service reform: 1) hiring, 2) employee investment and performance management, 3) separation, and 4) governance. Mr. Ginsburg’s report contains 45 recommendations in the four reform areas noted above.
Public Comment for items not on the Agenda
There were no public comments.
New Business
- Greg Wagner, Good Government Director for the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research
Association (hereinafter "SPUR") presented research and recommendations on San Francisco civil service reforms to the Department of Human Resources. Mr. Wagner replaced John Holtzman who was called away for a court hearing. Mr. Wagner said SPUR believes that the majority of City workers are hardworking, dedicated employees. SPUR issued a report on civil service in February 16, 2005. SPUR’s recommendations closely resemble the current DHR initiatives.
SPUR recommends both structural and operational reform recommendations. Structurally, SPUR urges a transfer of rulemaking authority from the Civil Service Commission to DHR’s director. SPUR would redefine the primary mission of the Civil Service Commission to be a merit appeals board with true appellate functions regarding employee selection, discipline and dismissals. Current work rules and their revision would be restructured. Specifically, SPUR recommends 1) elimination of ‘carve outs’ from collective bargaining, 2) standardization of employee selection, appointment, and assignment rules, 3) replacement of civil service rules with uniform work rules subject to meet and confer requirements, and 4) a requirement that rule changes that affect multiple bargaining units be ‘negotiated at a single table’. Finally, SPUR would ‘clarify’ the City’s Charter provisions to ensure that all future City managers and policy-makers serve at will.
SPUR’s operational reform recommendations urge that civil service examinations be continuously available and that departments be given authority to administer their own examinations. Likewise, SPUR would narrow the use of provisional hiring, eliminate examinations for licenses and apprentice classes in favor of reliable external measures of qualifications. SPUR recommends ‘round test scores consistent with the test’s predictive power.’ SPUR would increase mandatory probationary periods to one year for new employees as well as require an active decision by management regarding civil service status at the end of probation. Under SPUR’s proposals employee training and education available to employees would be dramatically increased and managerial staff would be properly trained. There would also be periodic job performance reviews subject to a citywide review committee chaired by DHR’s Director. Promotions and additional salary step increases would be linked to training and performance. DHR would contact outside consultants to determine high-level manager salaries based on performance and market data. Finally, DHR would regularly publish a comparative study of City employee salary and benefits.
Mr. Bondoc commented that applicants should not be able to take answers to exams into the examinations as they do at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Mr. Wagner noted that the type of testing done differs from job to job and he indicated that the DMV model is inapplicable. He noted that specialized job qualifications might be better handled by the hiring department than by DHR even as objectivity in scoring is preserved. He also noted that DHR does not have the resources needed to design and administer tests in a timely manner for the thousands of jobs to be filled by the City.
Ms. Baier agreed with SPUR’s preference for recognizing licensing and apprenticeship programs by other reliable entities for quality control.
Mr. Hypolite noted the committee’s main focus of inquiry was on whether SPUR’s proposed reforms would have an impact on women and minority employees in the City’s workforce and asked whether SPUR had taken such considerations into account in preparing its proposals. Mr. Wagner said the proposals had no clear impact on women and minorities but that the ‘devil was in the details’. He conceded that increased managerial discretion opens the possibility of abuse.
Suzanne Korey commented on the failure of Civil Service to recognize individual efforts including participation in training. She cited an example where training participants were not given credit for trainings that were job-relevant and noted the disincentive such a practice imposed on motivated employees.
Old Business
- Proposed Resolution from All of Us or None (AUON)
Action on this item had been postponed at the August meeting because there was no quorum. However, committee members reviewed draft correspondence to DHR Director Phil Ginsburg. The Committee voted unanimously to approve the draft correspondence, subject to revisions offered by Committee member Baier, and forward it to the full Human Rights Commission for review.
- Proposed additions to the committee’s list of projects for the 2005-2006 term.
Jerry Jones asked for a recap of new items added to the committee’s list of projects. Malik Looper said he would follow up on speakers to address the Unfinished Agenda.
Anouncements/Calendar Matters
Mr. Hypolite noted that Criss Romero of Local 21 would make a presentation on the proposed civil service reform to the Employment Advisory Committee at its October meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Employment Committee will be held:
Thursday, October 7, 2005
Time: 1:30pm
Place: 25 Van Ness Ave 8th Fl.
San Francisco, CA, 94102
Adjournment
Jose Bondoc moved to adjourn the meeting and Suzanne Korey seconded the motion to adjourn at 3:20 p.m. The motion was approved unanimously.