On August 14, 2024, your UPE team met with the County to get an update on the progress of the Piloting Changes for Intake with regard to overtime.
The first meeting with the department was on June 27, 2024, where they proposed a 90-day pilot program of no overtime past 5:30 pm without permission from a supervisor. Also, the only referrals that can be worked on past 5:30 pm have to be considered a P1 – which may require anywhere from an immediate to a 24-hour response. This was implemented to cut down on the amount of overtime being worked by the Intake Unit. The department was asked if the pilot would automatically end after 90 days, to which they said NO. When asked how the department is measuring the pilot's success, they said by checking hold times, the response time to P1 referrals, the number of referrals generated per day and, the number of referrals processed, and lastly, how much overtime is being worked. We ended by agreeing to meet in 30 days for an update.
On August 14, 2024, when we met again, UPE inquired as to how much overtime had been worked in the last six (6) months by the Intake Unit (of 10 employees), and the answer was 156 hours. When asked for an update on the overtime hours worked by the Intake Unit, there was none. We agreed that the department would check in with us in another 30 days, and if there are changes, we will meet again.
In the end, UPE suggested that the only reason piloting these changes is to be able to crack down on those abusing overtime, and as you can see, it is not our members.
Thank you, Deanna Green, Paige Jones and Alexandria Madden-Stribling for your advocacy!