REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND RECORD OF ACTION
July 14, 2020
FROM
GARY McBRIDE, Chief Executive Officer, County Administrative Office
SUBJECT
Title
Side Letter Agreements with Teamsters Local 1932 and California Nurses Association
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve a side letter agreement between the County of San Bernardino and the California Nurses Association representing employees in the Nurses Unit.
2. Approve a side letter agreement between the County of San Bernardino and Teamsters Local 1932 representing employees in the Administrative Services Unit.
(Presenter: Bob Windle, County Labor Relations Chief, 387-3101)
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COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Create, Maintain and Grow Jobs and Economic Value in the County.
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total estimated ongoing cost associated with the approval of the side letter agreement with the California Nurses Association (CNA) is $16,700 in 2020-21 (partial year); and the total estimated ongoing cost associated with the approval of the side letter agreement with Teamsters Local 1932 (Teamsters) is $28,500 in 2020-21 (partial year), $32,000 in 2021-22, and $32,000 in 2022-23. Approval of these two side letter agreements will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The additional compensation provided by these side letters to eligible employees at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) is funded by State Medi-Cal, Federal Medicare, private insurances, and other departmental revenue.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Critical On-Call
Currently, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County of San Bernardino (County) and CNA provides return-to-work (e.g., on-call and standby) compensation to employees in the Nurses Unit for being available to return to work with limited notice and for hours not previously regularly scheduled. Currently, ARMC is in the process of establishing a full Comprehensive Stroke and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) center that will provide stroke and heart patients critical procedures such as thrombectomy, angioplasty, and stenting that must be performed within a short timeframe from onset of condition to ensure the best possible outcome for patients. Additionally, ARMC is planning to establish other cardio-thoracic service lines that would also require fast response times. For this reason, a new return-to-work provision is needed that will require a shorter response time to return to ARMC than required by current on-call and standby provisions in the MOU.
County requested to meet and confer with CNA regarding new critical on-call compensation for nurses assigned to on-call duty who would be required to report back to ARMC in a shorter timeframe than currently required. The meet and confer process resulted in the proposed side letter agreement between the County and CNA establishing critical on-call compensation consistent with the critical on-call agreed to with another bargaining unit. Nurses assigned to critical on-call duty will receive $6.50 for each full hour of critical on call duty and will be required to arrive at their workstation at ARMC within 30 minutes from the time they are told they need to return to work.
Inpatient Assignment Compensation
Currently, the MOU between the County and Teamsters provides inpatient assignment compensation for various classifications at ARMC that are assigned on a full-time basis to work in the Behavioral Health Unit. Recently, the department has assigned several social workers to work on a full-time basis in the Behavioral Health Unit, and Teamsters requested to meet and confer with the County regarding social workers’ eligibility for the inpatient assignment compensation. The meet and confer process resulted in the proposed side letter agreement between the County and Teamsters establishing that the classifications of Social Worker II Trainee and Social Worker II shall be eligible for the inpatient assignment compensation in the same manner as the other classifications that currently receive the differential pay.
PROCUREMENT
N/A.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Cynthia O’Neill, Supervising Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on June 30, 2020; Labor Relations (Bob Windle, County Labor Relations Chief, 387-3101) on June 30, 2020; Finance (Jessica Trillo, Administrative Analyst, 387-4222) on July 1, 2020; County Finance and Administration (Matthew Erickson, County Chief Financial Officer, 387-5423) on July 1, 2020.