May 22, 2009
Anibal Ramos, Director
Essex County Department of Citizen Services
18 Rector Street, Floor 9
Newark, NJ, 07102
Re: Step III Class Action Contractual Grievance
Automated Time and Attendance Records Keeping System
Proved Flaws and Resultant Inequitable Dockings and Discipline
Article I. Purpose
Article VII. Discipline
Article XVI. Pay Practices
Article XXV. Non-Discrimination
Dear Mr. Ramos:
CWA Local 1081 submits this Step III Class Action Contractual Grievance to protest the fact that despite protestations from Director Nigro to the contrary, the Automated Time and Attendance system imposed upon our members by the County is unreliable and has prejudicially precipitated the deceitful docking and disciplining of a slew of our Union’s members. Director Nigro’s attached Step II Class Action Contractual Grievance denial response of May 18, 2009 is unacceptable to our adversely affected members as well as to CWA Local 1081. Contradictory to Mr. Nigro’s assertion that our Step II Class Action Contractual Grievance of May 5, 2009 written him in the above cited regard “is a repetition of a prior grievance and you have previously exercised your rights concerning this matter”, the recent revelation by Chief OF Administrative Services Marc Pilchman confirms our Union’s previously grieved contention that the Automated Time and Attendance system is flawed and unreliable. Therefore, the substance and ill effects noted within our grievances have been ongoing matters and are not precluded from being grieved anew based upon the aforementioned evidence recently revealed.
The following paragraphs were directed toward Mr. Nigro and were included within our Union’s attached Step II Class Action Contractual Grievance written him in this exact regard.:
“As you will please recall, CWA Local 1081 wrote you the attached letter of June 3, 2008 entitled ‘Automated Time and Attendance Records Keeping System' in which our Union stated “CWA Local 1081 has become aware of the continual capriciousness of the accurateness and fidelity of the agency’s Automated Time and Attendance Records Keeping System. Such unreliability is indicative of a system upon which the County should not rely to judge the accuracy and appropriateness of our members’ time and attendance, let alone upon which the County should rely “for all docking” and/or disciplinary “purposes” in that regard of such incomparable import”.
Your attached memorialized response to our missive of June 9, 2008 stated “Please note we have been piloting and testing this system since early March, 2008 to test various aspects of the system in order to identify issues and inconsistencies, and to resolve any issues. By July 1, 2008, we feel confident that the system can be fully utilized for tracking our employees’ time and attendance”.
CWA Local 1081’s attached rejoinder of June 10, 2008 to your response of June 9, 2008 avowed that “While CWA Local 1081 is circumspectly impressed by the declaration the County ‘has been piloting and testing this system since March, 2008’ and that you ‘feel confident that the system can be fully utilized for tracking” employees’ time and attendance, our information and inclination is that your optimism is as yet unfounded in this regard.”
Confirming our contention “that your optimism is as yet unfounded” is the attached memorandum of April 22, 2009 from Chief of Administrative Services Marc Pilchman written your key offices’ managers and entitled “Anti Static Floor Mats-Automated Time and Attendance System”, in which Mr. Pilchman writes “As you are aware, we have experienced various periodic outages in the swipe clocks that are connected to the automated time and attendance system. We have discussed various issues that may be responsible for these service interruptions with the vendor, Tempo Systems. One such possibility is static electricity. In order to mitigate this issue we have secured antistatic floor mats.”
Please note as well, Mr. Nigro, the attached emailed memorandum of April 14, 2009 from CWA Local 1081 Family Service Worker Sabrina Perry, entitled “Time Clocks at the Hall of Records” as she assigned to the OCSE office within the Hall of Records, wherein Sister Perry recounts the fact that the time clock within that office has been, and continues to be even after ameliorative attempts by the agency’s capable computer operative, out of sync. As Sister Perry so astutely asserts, “we, members at the Hall of Records, have been docked and reported tardy on our PD20’s for the past three to four months and we should not have been charged tardy and docked and forced to come to work four to five minutes early”.
The resolution CWA Local 1081 respectfully reiterates, Mr. Ramos, to this grievance consists of the following:
- The Division of Welfare shall cease compelling the members of CWA Local 1081 to utilize an unreliable time and attendance keeping system such as that which it purchased from Tempo Systems.
- The Division of Welfare shall withdraw all dockings and/or disciplines from our Union’s members personnel files that were predicated upon the faulty Tempo Systems hardware and software, and the Division shall reimburse those members improperly and inequitable docked and/or disciplined for the time and monies so denied them.
We seek a hearing, in this regard.
Sincerely,
David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081