The Deadline to Return Your Completed 8’s Settlement Request Packet to ACOA is

April 15, 2016

No remedy packets will be accepted after this date

DO NOT DELAY REQUESTING YOUR TIMESHEETS. If you have not requested your timesheets from the State prior to March 15, 2016 there is no guarantee that the State will be able to get you your timesheets in time for you to submit your Settlement Request Packet before the April 15, 2016 deadline.

Officers have now had over six months to request their timesheets from the State. There are a small number of Officers who are still waiting on their timesheets from the State. If you are one of those Officers, we have been assured that you will be receiving your timesheets shortly. As always, if you run into any other issues with your Remedy Request Packet please contact us immediately so we can get them resolved as soon as possible.

Below is the information you will need to apply for a remedy if you worked the forty-two (42) hour security shift (also known as the 8-hour security shift or simply the 8’s). If you were ever assigned to the newly created forty-two (42) hour security shift, please read the information below carefully.

Important Consideration

Prior to this remedy, everyone’s only concern was putting an end to the dangerous and destructive forty-two (42) hour security shifts. This remedy put an end to the 8’s, prevented them from showing up in the current Contract, and secured a Contract for all Officers that did not go backwards. Everyone gained from this settlement. Just because the settlement was larger than expected, let’s not turn a great thing negative by forgetting the original goals. Please look out for each other in this regard. Please keep things positive.

 

How to Apply for a Remedy

If, after reviewing the enclosed information, you need help or simply have questions please give us a call at (907) 646-2262 or e-mail us at info@acoa.us. We realize the process is unique and complicated and we are here to help.

Step 1 – Request Your Timesheets

If you worked a newly created forty-two (42) hour security shift and wish to apply for a remedy you must request your timesheets. Please follow these instructions:

  1. E-mail your timesheet request to doa.dop.COtimesheets@alaska.gov (just copy and paste the email below filling in your information). Everyone should have an e-mail address, but if you do not have access to a computer, call ACOA.
  2. Request only the timesheets for the dates between April 2012 and November 2014 in which you worked the forty-two (42) hour security shift. Please be as specific as possible.
  3. Write your full name, State ID #, and current institution.
  4. Request the State send your timesheets back to you via e-mail in PDF file format.
  5. Be courteous and patient. Remember much of the paperwork is archived. It will take the good people in the payroll department some time to get you the requested information. Calling them will not speed up this process.

Click here for a template timesheet request email

* Please be patient, we will ensure that everyone has plenty of time to receive their timesheets.

Step 2 – Fill Out the Settlement Request Packet

In order to receive a remedy you must print and completely fill out the following two documents:

  1. Remedy Calculation Form – Only hours that you put into this spreadsheet will be compensated. You must fill out all three blanks (Range/Step/Total Hours you actually worked the new 42-hour security shift) in each pay period. Click here to see an example Completed Remedy Calculation Form. Click here for more in depth instructions on how to fill out this form.
  2. Acknowledgement of Authenticity – This acknowledgement is required to ensure that the settlement money is distributed only as directed in the arbitration award.

*Do not write in hours for which you were already compensated at your overtime rate. The Contract states that “Overtime pay or other premium pay shall not be pyramided or duplicated” so if you already received overtime, you are not eligible to be paid overtime again for those hours.

Step 3 – Send ACOA your Completed Settlement Request Packet

Qualifying Officers can send ACOA their completed Settlement Request Packet by mail, drop it off (203 East 5th Ave. Anchorage, AK 99501), fax (907-646-2286), or e-mail (info@acoa.us). The Settlement Request Packet must include all of the following to be eligible:

  1. Signed Acknowledgement of Authenticity (from step 2);
  2. Completed Remedy Calculation Form (from step 2) – indicating your range, step, and the number of hours in each pay period you worked a forty-two (42) hour security shift, as defined by Arbitrator Gaunt; and
  3. A copy of all timesheets (from step 1) – covering the pay periods in which you worked a forty-two (42) hour security shift.

Step 4 – ACOA will Confirm Receipt

If you do not hear back from ACOA within a week of sending in your completed Settlement Request Packet contact ACOA at (907) 646-2262, or info@acoa.us, to confirm receipt.

Step 5 – Please be Patient While ACOA Receives, Verifies, and Compiles all Requests

During this time we will reach out to you if we find any discrepancies with your request.

Step 6 – ACOA will Verify Your Remedy Amount

Once the Settlement Request Packets have been received, ACOA will verify each for accuracy and begin calculating appropriate remedies. Once the total settlement amount is determined, each Officer will be paid as close as possible to 100%. If there is not enough money to pay 100%, Officers will be paid on a pro-rated basis, based on the percentage the $3 million covers of the money owed, the amount of time individuals actually worked on the new forty-two (42) hour security shifts, and the individual’s hourly rate of pay.

A three-member panel of the Board of Directors will review and decide disputes, should any arise. Your remedy dollar figure will be sent to you prior to disbursement for review.

Step 7 – ACOA Will Mail the Settlement Checks

All remedy checks will be sent to eligible Officers at the same time. Checks will be mailed as soon as possible. Tax information will also be mailed at a later date.

We have yet to set a completion date for this process due to uncertainty on how long it will take the State to return Officers’ timesheets. The State has said that they are collecting Officer timesheet requests and hope to get all timesheets back to Officers by or around the end of November, but they also said that was not a firm date. At some point, a deadline for Officers to send in their Settlement Request Packet will be established.

Treat Each Other With Respect

No one knows for sure who is receiving money or how much remedy any Officer actually put in a request for. Many Officers have already said they are not going to send in their timesheets and others have said that they are only going to request a partial remedy in an effort to support their fellow Officers and strengthen the Association. So please be respectful to everyone.

If you do receive money, you need to realize this is a touchy subject. Your money is a private matter, please keep it that way. Never have we received so many calls at one time, as we did from institutions where someone went around boasting about the money they were going to receive. The terms of the settlement are what they are, but remember all suffered under the 8’s. Please be respectful of the feelings of those who are not receiving settlement money.

 

Settlement FAQ

In April of 2012, the DOC violated the Contract, amplified by 30 years of past practice, when it moved some Correctional Officers from their traditional eighty-four (84) hour security shifts and placed them on newly created forty-two (42) hour security shifts. This change was punitive in nature and had nothing to do with efficiency or cost cutting. ACOA challenged this change in Arbitration and on April 20, 2013, Arbitrator Janet Gaunt ruled in ACOA’s favor that placing Officers on forty-two (42) hour security shifts violated the Contract. In the Arbitration decision, Arbitrator Gaunt determined:

“The dispute in this case is limited to the issue of whether the State can unilaterally move officers from the eighty-four (84) hour schedule to the forty-two (42) hour schedule while still using those officers to work security posts….

The Association convincingly established that the eighty-four (84) hour schedule expressly described in Article 13.2.A was incorporated into the Correctional Officer Agreement as the schedule to be worked by security officers. The forty-two (42) hour schedule described in Article 13.1.A was contractually intended for Correctional Officers assigned to administrative positions….

Unless an officer was assigned an administrative position, the DOC was not contractually free to unilaterally move those Correctional Officers assigned to security posts from an eighty-four (84) hour work schedule to a forty-two (42) hour work schedule during the term of labor contract. By doing so, the DOC did violate Articles 13.1 and 13.2 of the 2009-2012 Agreement when it implemented the Blended Staffing Plan.

The State did violate Articles 13 and 36 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it unilaterally changed the work schedule of Correctional Officers assigned to security posts from an eighty-four (84) hour, 7 days on/7 days off work schedule to a forty-two (42) hour, 5 days a week work schedule.”

If you would like to read the full decision you can find it here – http://www.acoa.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Arbitrator-Decision.pdf.

When the State attempted to circumvent this decision, Arbitrator Gaunt wrote a clarifying memo, which stated:

“The State misreads my decision of April 20, 2013 if it believes the Award does not require restoring security Correctional Officers to the 84-hour schedule from which they were moved. The whole point of the make whole remedy was to restore the impacted officers to the situation in which they would have been if the State’s contract violation had not occurred.”

Instead of complying with the Arbitrator’s decision, the State filed a Superior Court appeal. On July 29, 2014, we again prevailed. You can see the Superior Court Judge’s decision here – http://www.acoa.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Superior-Court-Decision-on-8-Hour-Shifts.pdf. Nevertheless, the State again appealed, this time to the Alaska Supreme Court.

While the case was pending before the Supreme Court, and just a few days before we were to start contract negotiations, ACOA and the State reached an agreement. This agreement tied the resolution of the 8’s (State coming off the forty-two (42) hour security shifts and a remedy for the Officers who were on that schedule) with the 2015-2018 Contract (this is the reason we did not go backwards in our Contract like many other unions). Perhaps most importantly, a signed Contract ended any discussion of the State trying to negotiate 8’s into the new Contract, a huge fear at the time, which should not be forgotten now that the danger is past.

Pursuant to the Arbitrator’s decision, the only Officers who are eligible for a remedy are those Officers who were assigned to the newly created forty-two (42) hour security shift, instead of the traditional eighty-four (84) hour security shift. This means that the shift had never been in existence before April 2012. This remedy includes Officers who are no longer working for the DOC. Forty-two (42) hour administrative positions are not eligible for the remedy. Examples of administrative positions include, but are not limited to: Housing Unit Supervisors, Institutional Training Officers, Institutional Compliance Officers, Disciplinary Sergeants, Records Sergeants, Special Projects Officers, Commissary Officers, Property Officers, Standards Sergeants, Security Sergeants, Job Services Officers, etc. No eighty-four (84) hour positions are eligible to receive this remedy. Arbitrator Gaunt’s Decision and Award is available here.

Arbitrator Gaunt framed the Arbitration issue as follows:

“Did the State violate provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement cited in the ACOA Demand for Arbitration when it unilaterally changed the work schedule of Correctional Officers assigned to security posts from an eighty-four (84) hour, 7 days on/7 days off work schedule to a forty-two (42) hour, 5 days a week work schedule?”

She also defined the DOC administrative positions in her decision which she specifically decided were not part of the remedy. She wrote:

“A much smaller number of Correctional Officers are assigned to administrative support positions that are not directly responsible for inmate supervision and usually do not even work on the secured side of an institution (“administrative officers”). Representative examples of these positions include: Housing Unit Supervisors, Institutional Training Officers, Institutional Compliance Officers, Disciplinary Sergeants, Records Sergeants, Special Projects Officers, Commissary Officers, etc.”

Officers who worked the illegal forty-two (42) hour security shifts were forced to work days that, absent the violation, would have been their regular days off (Article 21.9 – RDO Premium Pay). There is no way of knowing what shift an Officer would have been on had they not worked one of the illegal forty-two (42) hour security shifts, and to select one would be wholly arbitrary. What is certain is that half the time Officers would have been working on their week on and the other half of the time they would have been working on their regular days off (RDO). Officers were already paid straight time for those hours, so they will be compensated for the additional half-time they should have been paid for working on their RDO.

The remedy will be calculated per pay period in order to correctly assess Officers’ pay at the time they were working the forty-two (42) hour security shift. All the hours each individual worked the forty-two (42) hour security shift in each pay period will be totaled and then divided in half, as the Officer would have been on their RDO for half of the pay period. Thus half the hours the Officer worked each pay period will constitute the compensable hours (hours worked on their RDO) for that pay period. That number of hours will then be multiplied by half the Officers’ rate of pay at the time they worked those hours (as discussed in the previous paragraph). To determine the total remedy for each Officer, this process will be repeated for every pay period the Officer worked the forty-two (42) hour security shift and for which they submit a remedy request.

Example 1: Let’s say an Officer worked a forty-two (42) hour security shift for one pay period, did not miss work on any of those days, and his standard hourly rate of pay at the time was $20. The Officer would have worked 42 hours on each week, a total of 84 hours in the pay period, so he would write 84 hours on the Remedy Calculation Form for that pay period. Half of that time would have been worked on his on-week and the other half on his regular week off, but it is impossible to know which rotation he would have been on, so the total of 84 hours will be divided in half to get 42 compensable hours for that pay period. The Officer has already been paid straight time for these hours, but should have been paid overtime for one of the weeks because of RDO. To calculate the Officer’s remedy, the straight time rate will be subtracted from the overtime rate and then multiplied by the 42 compensable hours (as shown below). In this example, the Officer would receive $420 as his settlement.

$30 (overtime rate) minus $20 (straight time rate) times 42 (compensable hours) = $420
Total Remedy for the Pay Period = $420

Example 2: Let’s say an Officer worked a forty-two (42) hour security shift for two pay periods, but was sick or on vacation for multiple days. His standard rate of pay is $20. The Officer worked the following hours:

Pay Period 1
0 hours on week 1
42 hours on week 2

Pay Period 2
36 hours on week 3
18 hours on week 4

Half of the time in each pay period the Officer would have worked on his week on and the other half on his week off. Again, it is impossible to know which rotation he would have been on, so each week’s hours are added together to find the total hours the Officer worked in the pay period. In this case, the Officer would write 42 hours in the one Pay Period and 54 hours in the other. These totals are then divided in half. This equates to 21 compensable hours in Pay Period 1 and 27 compensable hours in Pay Period 2. The Officer has already been paid straight time for these hours, but again, should have been paid overtime for one of the weeks in each pay period (RDO). So the Officer’s straight time rate ($20) is subtracted from his overtime rate ($30) to get his half time rate ($10). The half time rate is then multiplied by the Officer’s compensable hours for each pay period (as shown below). In this example, the Officer would receive $480 as his total settlement for the two pay periods.

Pay Period 1 – $30 (overtime rate) minus $20 (straight time rate) times 21 (compensable hours) = $210
Pay Period 2 – $30 (overtime rate) minus $20 (straight time rate) times 27 (compensable hours) = $270
Total Remedy for Both Pay Periods = $480

ACOA racked up payroll and legal bills exceeding $200,000 and will have additional future expenses associated with disbursing the settlement money. Regardless of the costs involved, this was a grievance on a specific subject. Whether the Association files a class action grievance on overtime affecting a group of Officers or a grievance on discipline affecting a single individual, the Association does not subtract the cost of representing the member(s) from the settlement. We do not change that stance just because the settlement is larger than expected or because fighting it was more expensive than expected.

The money spent fighting this battle resulted in a win for the entire membership. Certainly, with the State billions of dollars in the hole, and the price of oil still dropping, the road ahead looks extremely bleak. Our biggest challenge will be the State trying to close institutions in the future; it is already trying to close one now. Should any Officers not apply for part or all of their remedy, it will be used to strengthen ACOA as we prepare for the battles ahead.

It was impossible to know the exact amount needed so we pushed for the largest remedy possible in order to pay out the highest percentage possible. Once that total amount is determined based on the calculation laid out in the “How is The Settlement Calculated” Question above, each eligible Officer will be paid their own appropriate remedy. If there is not enough money to pay 100%, then each eligible Officer will be paid an equal percentage in relation to the time they worked a forty-two (42) hour security shift and their hourly rate of pay. ACOA will not reach into other Officers’ dues money to pay any settlement monies after the deadlines are past and the settlement has been disbursed. That would be unfair to the rest of the membership.

Your timesheets, along with other documentation, will be used to confirm the accuracy of the information submitted on the Remedy Calculation Form. Without the timesheets, auditors cannot verify that you actually worked these hours on a forty-two (42) hour security shift, so it is absolutely necessary that you include all of your timesheets for the pay periods for which you are requesting a remedy. If your timesheet is not received for a particular pay period, you will not receive a remedy for those hours.

Our attorneys advise that this is necessary to protect the Association and its members from potential liability because the arbitration award is very specific in regard to who is entitled settlement money. Per Arbitrator Gaunt’s decision, the settlement is only applicable for those who were assigned to the newly created forty-two (42) hour security shifts. This acknowledgement helps ensure that only those individuals who are owed the remedy receive it. This protects all ACOA members from paying out dues money beyond the $3 million, which ACOA will not do.