SEIU 509 Member,

As part of the one-year agreement we won with the Commonwealth back in May, we negotiated the distribution of a $4.2 million pool of money for class allocations, new or existing differentials/incentives, and training. From this pool, we secured several wins, including title upgrades and a longevity differential. Click here to view the full text of the classification pool agreement.

Because of some recent confusion, we want to clarify when and what you should expect to see in your paycheck regarding longevity and title upgrades:

Longevity Differential

• 15-19 years of service = $11 biweekly ($286 annual)
• 20-24 years of service = $15 biweekly ($390 annual)
• 25+ years of service = $30 biweekly ($780 annual)

Longevity differential pay is retroactive to 1/1/2023 OR the anniversary date in 2023 if that is when you attained 15 years of service. Example: You attained 15 years of service on 4/1/2023. Your longevity differential is retroactive to that date, not 1/1/2023.

Expect to see longevity retro pay in the March 15th paycheck, and the differential will also be reflected from that paycheck onwards.

Title Upgrades

If you received an upgrade as a result of the last contract settlement, you may have received some confusing letters from the Commonwealth.

These letters were intended to inform you of your upgrade.  

In the initial letter, however, the Commonwealth made an error in their description of the upgrade. They then sent a follow up letter as a correction. The follow up letter makes it look like you are making less than you should.  

Union representatives met with the Commonwealth to address this. We believe, based on our current knowledge, that members' actual pay should be correct.  

Here's our understanding of what happened:

• The first letter stated that your upgrade was effective 1/1/23. This is correct.

• The first letter also identified your new grade and your new step. Those should be correct - if you believe they are not, please contact your steward right away.

• Then the first letter identified your pay rate. It was intended to state your pay rate as of the effective date of the upgrade - in other words, the pay rate in effect on 1/1/23 when our first 4% raise was due and when the upgrade became effective.

As you recall, we negotiated two 4% raises: one effective 1/1/23 and one effective 7/2/23. So, since the Commonwealth wanted to tell you how much you would have been making on 1/1/23 (so you could correctly calculate your retro), they should have used the wage chart that takes into account the 1/1/23 raise. The 7/2/23 raise had not kicked in yet.

The mistake was that they used the pay chart in effect currently—the one that takes into account both raises. This tells you the correct amount you are making now (assuming you haven't changed jobs), but not the correct amount for 1/1/23.

When they realized this, they issued a correction, recalculating your pay rate effective 1/1/23 based on the January 2023 pay chart. That's why it was a lesser amount. It was not intended to reflect your current pay.  

To our knowledge, the state is using the correct chart, factoring in both raises, in calculating our members' current pay rates.

If you believe your actual pay is not what it is supposed to be, please contact your union steward right away.