COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, November 17, 1998 1:20 p.m. - - - BILL NO. 960598 - Amending the retirement system ordinance approved December 3, 1956 and the retirement system ordinance approved April 22, 1987, as amended. . . RESOLUTION NO. 980154 - Authorizing City Council Committee on Civil Service to conduct hearings and investigations into the diversity policies within the ongoing reorganization of the City of Philadelphia's Department of Personnel and into the effects these policies have on the City's workforce and its image. PRESENT: COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO, Chair COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILWOMAN AUGUSTA A. CLARK COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILWOMAN ANNA CIBOTTA VERNA COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2 11/17/98 COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND CIVIL SERVICE I N D E X Res. 980154 Alison Richardson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Mary Miller Turner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 7 Mary Ann Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Long-term City Employee 8 9 John Crapper, Chairperson . . . . . . . . . . 77 Association of City Managers and Professional 10 Employees 11 Linda Seyda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Personnel Director for the City of Philadelphia Kevin Vaughan, Executive Director . . . . . . 123 Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations 3 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Meeting - Bill 960598 P R O C E E D I N G S
What I'm going to do here first is I -- I'm going to -- I had a meeting for a public hearing. We'll have the meeting now for Bill No. 960598, okay? So I would like to have a public meeting for Bill No. 8 960598. I will read that bill. Bill No. 960598, amending the retirement system ordinance approved December 3, 1956 and the retirement system ordinance approved April 22, 1987, as amended, by redefining average final compensation for certain employees in positions which cannot be represented by a union by revising the base compensation upon which the retirement benefits shall be computed. Now, we already had that public hearing; we're going to go right into the public meeting.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill No. 960598 be moved out of committee with a favorable recommendation and a request for a suspension of the rules so that it can be read in the next session of City Council. (Duly seconded.) 4 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Meeting - Bill 960598
It has been moved and seconded. We'll take the vote now, okay? I'll vote yes. Any nays? The ayes have it. That will close the public meeting for 960598. - - - 5 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
Now we're going to go right into the Committee on Labor and Civil Service hearing for Resolution 980154. I'm Councilman Rick Mariano. I have Councilwoman Marian Tasco, I have Councilman Angel Ortiz, Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, and Councilwoman Anna Verna. The first witness will be --
Okay, Councilwoman Tasco has a statement to read first.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do you want to read the bill first?
Okay, first let me read the resolution. Resolution No. 980154, authorizing the City Council Committee on Civil Service to conduct hearings and investigations into the diversity policies within the reorganization of the City of Philadelphia's Department of Personnel and into the effects these policies have on the City workforce and its image.
Thank you very much. 6 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee on Labor and Civil Service and fellow Councilmembers, good afternoon. I introduced resolution 980154 soon after the budget hearings in March. During hearings on the City's personnel department and its reorganization, I discovered that there were several questions which troubled me. The reorganization plans and objectives troubled me because even though a prestigious firm was involved, no material dealt with how to deal with the changing and diverse workforce. I saw no 14 evidence of plans to build gender, racial and ethnic incorporation in the workplace, and I still have not seen enough to allay my original fears. In 1988, I convened a conference on the issues of what was then labeled "Workforce 2000." Unfortunately, the year 2000 problem has now become computers, and not people. But people are still at the core of this problem, and we must have a workforce that reflects the realities of this City. And we must have a personnel department that reflects the type of workforce we're striving to create. It must have a 7 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 multi-cultural face that gives us ethical proof before the various departments. Also, the personnel department must have the diversity training and the tools to keep the rest of the City departments on the right track. Furthermore, it must meet with those personnel heads periodically to fine-tune their understanding of civil service requirements and the rewards of creating a workplace that operates as a community. I find that lacking and I see no 12 process in place to deal with prejudice and harassment that many employees from many departments have described me. There are non-threatening ways to address these emotional issues. We can reinvent government all that we like, but if the parts of the government do not reinvent their interactions, we will not be as productive or as successful as we need to be in delivering services. I want to thank Linda Seyda for coming today to help us gather information on this topic so that we may conclude with a positive program to improve our overall interactions and relationships with them and across the departments. 8 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 Representatives from several departments have agreed to present some of their experiences for our edification and how we must pay more attention to the crisis of our diverse for recognition and a listening ear. I am interested in recruitment, hiring retention, promotion, and recognition of employees, and how gender, racial, and ethic awareness is displayed. I hope that you can address these issues for us, and I trust that we can reach a consensus of some programs, and I would look to the management and productivity bank to help us institute a program that will reach every employee and set a model for the rest of the City, both private and public to follow. Thank you very much.
Thank you Councilwoman. Councilman Ortiz would also like to make a statement. Councilman?
Yes. I've been trying to, for the last year, year and a half, I've been trying to get some answers as to the makeup of the personnel of the City of 9 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 Philadelphia, makeup in terms of how many minorities and individuals, by gender and race and nationality, occupy and are performing at several levels of the City of Philadelphia. We have statistics because we have a report from the Human Relations Commission that was given to us a long time ago, during the Wilson Goode administration, and we wanted to find out whether, during the last six years, the numbers of Latinos in these areas have gone down. I've asked for, specifically by position in terms of offices, not just the secretaries and the clerks, but the directors, executives, the deputies, the individuals that are in the policy-making positions in the different departments of the City of Philadelphia. I requested that during the budget hearings, and I still haven't gotten those figures. And I hope that out of this hearing, I can get a clear picture of where we're at at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilman. The first person I want to call is 10 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 Alison Richardson. Alison? (Alison Richardson comes forward.)
Good afternoon, members of City Council. Thank you for allowing me to present my case for promotional opportunity in the civil service series of the programmer analyst classification. Please enter for the record Exhibit A, Unfair Labor Practices, which I've given to --
Move it closer to you, real close. Not you, the mike. Pull it.
Okay. I wanted to enter for the record Exhibit A, Unfair Labor Practices; and Exhibit B, Justification for Programmer Analyst Project Leader Appointment. When I was promoted to programmer in 1989, I began doing project leader work at that time, and this is a standards manual for which I created -- which references all of electronic print for the City of Philadelphia's departments and agencies, including the processing of payroll checks, and I also did the income tax -- school 11 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 income tax optically scannable form. These projects took several years. From there, I moved into the information center, which you can see in Exhibit B.
What I attempted to do was to give you the job descriptions that I performed as a Programmer Analyst I, a Programer Analyst II, and a Programmer Analyst III. As a Programmer Analyst I, I completed the electronic print conversion from the impact printers, as I said, which included all the processing of the payroll checks, tax forms, and miscellaneous forms for the City of Philadelphia's departments and agencies.
Is it my understanding that you have an unfair labor 12 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 practice suit with the City of Philadelphia.
I'm just concerned that you're saying things on the record here that may hurt your case. I'd be real careful. I used to be a business agent for a laborers union, and if you were in my union, you wouldn't be doing this today. But, I mean, it's up to you.
If you look at the specifications, I'm using the term "unfair labor practices" because some of the things that they have done are unfair.
What is your status in terms of a complaint? Have you filed any complaint at all? 13 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
No. I only went to Councilman Nutter's office when I was doing the West Philadelphia GIS Pilot Project, and I complained because I told him I couldn't get the promotion to project leader, but then I had to go to City Planning, and I basically --
Thank you. I just wanted you to know your rights and to tell you to be real careful. Thank you, continue.
Okay. Well, if you look at Exhibit A and you see the job specifications, what they did is, they used this note from one spec to another in which some employees are allowed to use experience as substitution for educational requirements. Then they remove it. If you look further into the specs, they -- well, you don't 14 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 have that one. Here it is here. And I've highlighted it.
Can I just ask you, what is your basic complaint and who is it against?
My basic complaint is that in 1993, I was given evaluations which was basically defamation of character because I had already completed several projects, there was no 11 question about my analytical ability. And then I was notified by personnel in, three separate mailings, that I did not qualify for the promotion. And since that time, in the civil service unit, they created an exempt position which is at the project leader level and just basically disallowed me to be able to qualify by rewriting the specifications.
And who rewrote the specifications, the personnel department or the -- you work for MOCS (ph.), right?
No, the Mayor's Office Information Services. I believe it was the personnel office. 15 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 It's just that they keep changing to whatever suits them at the time. To some people they say, any combination of education and experience to be deemed necessary by personnel. But these job classifications already came under the jurisdiction of a classification, which was created by the bargaining unit 2187 and 2186, which is the programmer analyst series.
Well, there were some situations where the union, basically, I felt, did not look out for my better interests.
No, he didn't. 16 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
And who's the 6 business agent there? That's the District Council 7 47, right? 8
Okay. So 13 basically, you told the union, and did they do 14 anything? 15
Right. Well, you know, 19 I try not to complain, I try not to file 20 grievances because I feel that in the long term, 21 that would be a reflection on me for -- where a future employee (sic.) would possibly look at me say and say, you know, She's constantly filing grievances. And they wouldn't want me. So I feel like that's a double-sided sword. 17 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 But basically, in the evaluation, they made me seem like a problematic employee, which is not true. I've done several projects for the City of Philadelphia -- for instance, the reconciliation of the federal wage tax.
I completed that. The City got the refunds from the federal employees. It was very intensive, and it requires a lot of analysis, where I'm working with the main frame processor and taking the tapes and being able to decipher the information on the tapes. I've also done the personnel analysis for several years from about 1990 to about 1995. And at one point, there were errors in the mayor's operating budget. Then I was assigned that project in which -- at that point, I'm not programming; I'm auditing.
Yes, I did, at the Programmer Analyst I level, which, at that point, it waivers the four-year degree because of the experience. But they're trying to take that away 18 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 from other employees so that that bridge isn't there, and then they take the employees that didn't qualify to take the PA I exam, and they rewrite the specs.
Because you're assuming that we've all read this material, and we have not. Okay? What we need to hear from you is what you have applied for, what is your position now, what have you applied for, and why you think you have not been given the position. We need to go in some steps because we don't know --
We haven't read this, all right? We just got this so we haven't had an opportunity, all members of Council, so we really don't know what your problem is.
In the mayor's Office of Information Service? 19 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
Okay. So you were promoted to II and then promoted to III?
Then when you get to the project leader level, it's supposed to be based on training and experience and 10 percent seniority. 20 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
A project leader, a programmer analyst project leader program.
But that's on a track; you don't have to take any more exams.
They eliminated my category. There's three categories -- General, COBOL, and FORTRAN. They eliminated the General category and changed it to a programming that they're using at MOIS called "Natural." And instead of adding Natural to the categories, they 21 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 eliminated my category and, thereby, eliminated me from the promotional process.
Do you know the new category Natural? Are you familiar with the program?
Okay, so at the point where you could have qualified for project analyst --
Did they open up the process for someone else, or did no one else gain --
Yes. As a matter of fact, the examination -- I found out later that they allowed someone who had never been a program analyst to take the examination, but were so adamantly against me taking the examination. I have three separate mailings from Central Personnel saying that I could not take the examination. 22 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
Why could you not take the examination? I don't understand that.
They said I had not been programming in Natural for four years. But, see, there's some data processing requested that simply don't fall under a specific language. For instance, the electronic print, the personnel analysis, I was doing a lot of spreadsheets. At the time I had to do the budget analysis, I did the overtime analysis. There were several projects that I had completed prior to me becoming eligible for project leader. And what they did was, they made up a category --
My superiors made up a category to put on my evaluation, under "Ability to Work Within a Work Group," they gave me "improvement needed" and just basically continually disqualified me to be promoted.
Were your projects rated after the projects were completed?
I have sign-offs and I 23 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 have references from the users, which they were very satisfied. The Revenue Department, Tom Kramer, he even said we could never have completed the optically scannable tax forms without my help. And I worked diligently -- sometimes till 3, 4 o'clock in the morning to have that work prepared so I could come in, and these projects could be processed.
So when you received your performance evaluation, you were you evaluated as "improvement needed"? Was that your overall evaluation?
No, that wasn't my overall. I only got upset about the -- my overall was satisfactory. I was only upset that they made up a category of "Ability to Work Within a Work Group." How can you be --
Is that a part of the evaluation for every employee in that department or only on your evaluation? 24 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
It was only on my evaluation. And for instance, I'm now doing time accounting for the Capital Programs Office. That's a whole project. It's very intense. Sometimes Capital or Streets time accounting, they don't get the numbers balanced, and basically, I have to audit what they have done, and that's not really a part of my job function.
All of the advanced work for the programs that encompass an application.
It's a programmer analyst project leader. 25 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
Basically, it does all the advanced programming, planning, and user contact for a particular application, a computer application.
And you're doing that now without the title of project leader?
So you're performing the task, but you do not have the title, nor the salary range?
Yes. Right now, I'm doing time accounting for the Capital Programs Office as well as Streets time accounting. And when they're in error, I audit that data. And, you know, I basically give them --
Is it your claim that -- is it your claim, to put it very clearly, that you were treated differently and that a new definition for a job was created to prevent you from assuming a position?
Yes. And that new job description was "software engineer."
And you say that the 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 -- that your supervisor or the individuals -- or who treated you differently and who in essence targeted your position or you to prevent you from being promoted and getting a chance at this position? Who did that?
The evaluation is included in my exhibit that is Dr. Karl Bortnick.
And this doctor, is he the one that then had either the Personnel Department, or whoever, write a new job description that prevented you from moving forward?
That, I'm not sure of. It was more than one person. My personnel officer is Jackie Henry. It's not one person; it's a group of people. Unfortunately, we have a status quo, and it can make it very difficult. When you're not a part of status quo, you're 27 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 automatically rejected.
But your claim is that action -- discriminatory actions were taken against you to prevent you from being promoted, and that this took on the aspect of changing the job description and preventing you from taking or participating in the exam that was given at that point? Is that your claim?
Dr. Karl Bortnick and my personnel officer, Jacqueline Henry.
All right. They are the ones that, probably with others, might have been the individuals who rewrote and prevented you from moving forward?
Yes. And I would also like to note (unintelligible) I also handle all of the press activity for the elections in the primary and the general. So when press agencies want to dial into the data center, into the central computing 28 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 agency, they contact me. And for like two months, during the primary and during the general election, my work is interrupted. And then I do network work, where I'm constantly dealing with the dial-ups, the press agencies that call in. They want to be able to dial in, and I have to support that activity.
Miss Richardson, these two people, whose name you told Councilman Ortiz, say their names again for me.
I say it very loosely. Do they your evaluations, those two? Were either one of those two involved in your evaluations?
What happened was, he gave me the evaluation, and he attempted to have me sign it. And when I refused to sign it, they said we had to review it with the personnel 29 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 officer. At that point, they took me into a conference room and sort of badgered me -- not once but twice, on two occasions during my -- because the other one, they gave me "improvement needed" in analytical ability. This was right after I did the budget analysis. How could I possibly have a deficit in my analytical ability when I just reviewed the mayor's operating budget so they could get the funding for the Police Department?
When they created this new category and they said you couldn't work within that system, you didn't work with a team, right? Is that what they said?
And you wouldn't sign that, and that was a part of your evaluation. 30 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
And I wouldn't sign that. And after she badgered me for about 45 minutes, she pushed the evaluation over to me and said, You still have to sign it.
Satisfactory. How can it -- explain -- see, some of us may have never --
See, you can't be a project leader if you don't have the ability to work within the work group. They can use that to justify not giving you a promotion where you have to lead a work group. If you have a deficit in your analytical ability, how are you going to be a project leader? And then there was times when I did documentation for time posting and the documentation for the election system. I did documentation for time accounting. It's extra. They don't even count it.
Are you the only one performing these tasks, or are you in a work 31 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 group?
With capital programs, you know, I tried to talk them into having a user group because I do all of the programming myself.
And when the numbers aren't balanced, I have to go audit all the data, and I have to fix it.
So you've tried to cooperate with your department by not filing a grievance or a complaint?
Well, I have 16 years of service and I'm just thinking, you know, 20 years of service, if I want to go somewhere else, 32 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 I don't want anyone to see a record of grievances. I just want to be able to go on with my life. You know, if they're so adamant about it, then they shouldn't give me -- I told Dr. Karl Bortnick at that point, the last time, when they tried to give me the evaluation with "improvement needed" in analytical ability, I told him, At this point, I can no longer do the personnel analysis.
At the time the evaluation said "Ability to Work Within the Work Group -- improvement needed," it was Richard Gatt. 33 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154
Well, what did he evaluate you on? If he -- did he play a role in the evaluation?
So this gets to be subjective, I guess. Why do you think that you were not given the opportunity to move forward?
Well, at the time I became eligible for project leader, I was the only black and the only female to be eligible for the promotion.
Not in all of MOIS. 34 11/17/98 LABOR & CIVIL SERVICE - Pub. Hearing - Res. 980154 You see, it's in my unit, in systems development.
I'm sorry. I'm a little confused. In order to become a project leader, I know it was a promotional position, but did you have to take a civil service exam for that? Or was it automatically considered a promotion, step IV?
Programmer Analyst I through Programmer Analyst III is career advancement. Once you take PA-I exam, you can advance to II and then to III.