Agenda Packets - 1987/09/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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GLP 9 Local Government Pay Equity Act (B) (cont'd) The 1984 Legislature required all local units of government to conduct job evaluation studies and to implement those studies in order to remedy sex -based differentials in compensation. Cities have expended a great deal of staff time and money in undertaking the studies and seeking to implement the studies. It has proven to be a complicated and expensive process. The primary issue facing cities, aside from funding the implementa- tion, is ensuring the implemented studies can be maintained. In negotiations and settlements with most employees, the governing body is ultimately responsible for the compensation provided to employees. If the governing body, through a settlement with a particular employee class, creates ineq'jity as defined by th- it will be responsible for that inequity and ultimate lave to increase or freeze compensation until equity is once again achieved. This is not the case with essential employees organized under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act. These employees, to the extent that agreement- with the local government cannot be attained, have their compensation established through mandatory binding arbitration. The end result of the interplay between these statutes could be that the overall level of compensation for all employees, not just essential employees, will be set not by the local elected officials required to raise the revenues to pay for employees' compensation, but rather by a=bitratu-s. The League strongly opposes any legislation which has the effect of l.- promoting this result, strongly opposes legislation which excludes police, fire, and other essential employees from the pay equity act, and supports legislation which ensures that local officialscharged [ with setting property tax levels also set local government _ ployee compensation levels. GLP-10. Time and Distance Residency Requirements (B) In recent years the legislature has limited the authority of cities and other local units of government to impose residency requirements for their employees. The legislature has recognized, however, the need for insuring the ability of certain employees to be available to respond to emergency situati.ns. In 1984, in the same bill which prohibited non -metropolitan cities from enacting blanket residency requirements, the legislature specifically allowed non -metropolitan cities to enact reasonable area I , and response time restrictions if there were demonstrated job , -2b-