DHA: Lobby Services Enhancements

On February 21, 2025, UPE met with the County to discuss proposed changes to lobby services for DHA. The County proposed having HSA employees work the information desk and resource rooms, but UPE raised concerns about workload and out-of-class duties.

UPE proposed that plexiglass be added to the Resources Room and Information Desk, safety officers and security conduct walkthroughs of these areas, and HSAs held harmless for any unauthorized computer activities by clients. Additionally, HSAs are not to be held responsible for customer service delays due to coverage or staffing shortages; HSAs should not be required to provide detailed explanations of questions on eligibility forms, nor are they expected to interpret journal entries or program knowledge when providing customer information. The County agreed to all of these proposals.

However, the County refused to agree to other proposals. The County would not agree to hire more than six additional HSAs at this time, they rejected UPE’s proposal that HSAs not be responsible for informing clients of wait times, and finally, UPE’s proposal that HSAs at the information desk should only be required to reprint forms and not be tasked with creating or filling in templates.

The County has proposed removing HSAs from working at the Kiosk and instead reassigning them to the Resources Room and Information Desk. UPE strongly opposes this move, as it unfairly takes work away from the 008 Bargaining Unit.

UPE will meet with the County again. Please stay tuned for more updates.

UPE would like to thank 008 Governing Board Members Olivia Brown, James Starr, Stephanie McCall, and Nichole Gorman for their participation and advocacy.

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!