Collection Service Agent Class Study

UPE met and conferred with representatives from the Department of Finance regarding the class study for Collection Service Agents. As a part of the study, the Department is planning to create a new entry-level classification called the Collection Service Clerk. This position is designed to provide people without collection experience a chance to gain experience while working at Revenue and Recovery. This would then allow them to promote to Collection Service Agent.

The new position will be allowed to collect on the debt that current CSAs collect. UPE objected to this duty because it can hamper our CSAs' collection efforts. This is very important because CSAs have minimum production quotas that they must adhere to and can earn additional pay for collecting over a certain amount. The new Clerk position can potentially undercut these efforts.

The Department responded to UPE's concerns by stating that the Clerk position would only collect "low-level debt" and showed UPE data on the number of accounts with balances below $50. UPE proposed that the Department stand by its word and change the class specifications to limit Clerks to collecting debt under $50. The County rejected this proposal, saying it would limit the type of debt the Clerk could collect. UPE pointed out that the point of the classification is to get experience in debt collection, period. The minimum qualifications for CSAs require debt collection experience — not collection of any specific type of debt or even a broad range of debt. There is no reason the Clerk could not get the necessary experience to become a CSA while only collecting on accounts under $50.

What the Department's actions show is that they want to create a lower-paid classification that they can assign to collect any debt the Department wants. There are no safeguards in the class specifications to prevent the Department from flooding the Department with Clerks and using them to undermine the CSAs.

UPE is not done fighting the County's efforts to hurt our CSAs. UPE is considering all options to challenge the County, including speaking against the class study before the County Civil Service Commission, which must approve the class changes before they can take effect.