FYI --About Layoffs

The procedure in case of layoffs: There must be an official 30-day notice in a meeting with the Union. At this meeting the City will give the Union a list of workers who are “at risk” of layoff. After the meeting the City will send these workers an “at risk” letter. Fifteen days before a layoff, a worker will get an official letter with notification they are being laid off and a date. In between the 30-day notice and the 15-day notice the Union will continue trying to lessen the number of layoffs, challenge seniority lists, deal with hardships, vacancies, bumping and many other issues. The order of layoffs is by juniority. For non-competitive titles, seniority is determined by time in title and the layoff unit is determined by the agency. The union will be pushing for the largest layoff unit possible, so that senior workers will be protected. For competitive titles, seniority is determined by the date the worker first became permanent in a civil service title, as long as there is no break in service. For example, if a worker became a permanent Caseworker in 1980, and subsequently became a Child Welfare Specialist and then a provisional CWS Supervisor, his/her seniority is figured on the 1980 date. Bumping: Workers in supervisory titles scheduled to be eliminated will “bump” down to their previous permanent title and displace the junior worker in that title. The “bumped” supervisor will subsequently be paid at the rate for the new lower title. When a title is targeted for layoffs, all provisionals in the title must be eliminated before any permanent workers can be laid off. COBRA - workers who are laid off (going back to September 1, 2008) should be receiving notification from their health plan that they are eligible to apply for a 65% subsidy to pay for continuing coverage. Workers should look out for this letter to take advantage of this subsidy. They will need to take the form to their employer to confirm termination date and layoff and then send it to their health plan, which will bill them for 35% of the cost of COBRA .