Seconds NYSCOPBA Gripe
SCOA: Hevesi Holds Up Our Raise, Too

By REUVEN BLAU

The Supreme Court Officers' Association charged last week that the State Comptroller's Office has failed to pay its members the 8.25-percent retroactive raises the union negotiated in March.

JOHN McKILLOP: Comptroller 'dropped the ball.'

"They really dropped the ball on this," asserted SCOA President John McKillop. "I anticipated the payments would be forthcoming around the end of July."

Others Still Waiting

The SCOA complaint comes as State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi struggles to pay the union representing state Correctional Officers the 11-percent retroactive raises they were awarded in March.

As a result, the approximately 23,000 members of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association and the 14,950 members of the SCOA have not yet received their complete raises. Mr. Hevesi has called the NYSCOPBA arbitration award an "extremely complicated" contract that requires payroll staff to determine which portion of salary represents base pay and which constitutes longevity.

The unions pointed out that the state has already implemented other aspects of their contracts such as the increased co-payments for specific health insurance services. "They had no problem bringing that up," Mr. McKillop bristled. "My members are going crazy."

ALAN G. HEVESI: Another unhappy union.

Paul Lauro, a veteran Senior Court Officer, said that the raises typically kick in after two or three months. "What's the holdup?" he asked. "It's getting kind of frustrating."

Union Seeks Interest

NYSCOPBA has filed a suit demanding that the state pay interest on the retroactive raises. Mr. McKillop said that the SCOA is looking into taking similar legal action. "I just instructed our lawyers to look into either compelling immediate payment or imposing interest on the monies due," he said during an Aug. 3 phone interview.

David Neustadt, a spokesman for the Comptroller, has maintained that litigation wouldn't play a role in the payment procedure. Due to the delay, Mr. Hevesi agreed to make an advanced partial payment on Aug. 31 of as much as $7,500 to NYSCOPBA officers. It is unclear whether he will make a similar payment to SCOA members still waiting for their raises.

Mr. McKillop has a meeting scheduled with Comptroller's Office officials to discuss the situation as this paper hits newsstands Aug. 8. "I've had some discussions with them," the union president said. "It would seem to me that there would be a template where they would at least be able to bring us up to our salary rate."

Like Other Court Deals

The SCOA accord, which also includes a senior officer differential and a $1,600 additional payment, has similar financial terms to the pacts negotiated by other court and state employee unions this round of bargaining. Mr. Hevesi has hired extra employees and approved overtime to help his staff properly calculate base pay as well as increases in uniform allowance, longevity payments, and a security law-enforcement differential for NYSCOPBA members.

But Mr. McKillop questioned the process. "Things are all computerized now," he said. "There are very little hand calculations."

The Comptroller's Office Aug. 4 sent a letter to all NYSCOPBA members notifying them that on Oct. 26 they will receive their full retroactive salary increases. The letter blamed the union officials for "lots of bad information."

Officer Lauro, however, noted that SCOA members haven't received a raise since 2003. "I don't think that it's too much for regular officers to ask when we are going to be paid," he contended. "It's a lot of money, and what happens when they are holding onto this money?"

The SCOA overwhelmingly ratified the contract in March and the Governor signed the pay bill in early June. "And now the money is just not being paid," Mr. Lauro said. "Nobody's given any answer that makes any sense. It's kind of hard to take."