October 24, 2009
Bruce Nigro, Director
Essex County Division of Welfare
18 Rector Street, Floor 9
Newark, NJ, 07102
Re: Step II Class Action Contractual Grievance
Acknowledgement of Terms and Conditions of Retirement
Article I. Purpose
Article VII. Discipline
Article XXV. Non-Discrimination
Article XLII. Fully Bargained Provisions
Article XLIX. Safety of Staff
Dear Mr. Nigro:
CWA Local 1081 submits this Step II Class Action Contractual Grievance on behalf of our members whom have, or whom shall have, been required to have “submitted (sic) application for retirement” and “sign the attached acknowledgement entitled “Acknowledgement of Terms and Conditions of Retirement’”:
- Neither the County, nor the State, has provided our aggrieved members “all of the eligibility requirements for retirement” stipulated within the application.
- The statement contained within the application, “I understand that changing or canceling my retirement date does not guarantee continued employment with my employer” is a change of past practice pertaining to the terms and conditions of employment and exposes our aggrieved members to the punitive sanction of having their employment possibly terminated were they to change or cancel their retirement date.
- The statement contained within the application that “I understand that the beneficiary designation I am indicating on this retirement application supersedes all prior designations” is a change of past practice pertaining to the terms and conditions of employment and exposes our aggrieved members to the punitive sanction of having their beneficiary designation altered despite the fact that the application does not contain any section in which to designate a beneficiary.
- The assertion contained within Essex County Director of Human Resources Alan Abramowitz’s attached memorandum of October 1, 2009, entitled “Terms and Conditions of Retirement”, that “All received Retirement Applications currently on file have been placed on a pending status until the ‘Acknowledgement of Terms and Conditions of Retirement’ has been signed and submitted to the Retirement Bureau for processing” further exacerbates our aggrieved members’ respective situations inasmuch as they cannot complete the application due to the abovementioned unendurable conditions contained therein.
The resolution CWA Local 1081 respectfully demands to this grievance consists of the following:
- The County shall immediately withdraw the application and thus cease requiring our Union’s aggrieved members to sign and date it.
- The County shall consult with the State to ensure CWA Local 1081’s abovementioned concerns regarding the application’s content have been adequately addressed and remedied.
We seek a hearing, in this regard.
Sincerely,
David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081