INFORMATIONAL

BULLETIN

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VSPA members,


I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends and those that were working through the holiday weekend, thank you for your commitment to the safety of all those that were traveling.

 

I wanted to take a moment to give an update on where we are in the effort to work out the pay issues that arose due to the transition to the Cardinal system. David Ostwinkle has taken the lead in compiling information on all the issues that arose when the transition took place. We are still hearing from others that are still missing overtime pay from previous weeks when the switch took place. We continually stay in contact with Major Holland to work through these issues and I believe we are making headway in resolving the issues as they arise. Major Holland has been a passionate advocate for the members and has kept the Department of Accounts and Payroll Service Bureau’s feet to the fire on the problem. We have had a great team effort from our involvement and with VSP in addressing these issues head-on as we advocate for our members.

 

As the Executive Director, I initiated conversations with the Governor’s policy team the week before Thanksgiving. We discussed the lack of urgency by the Department of Accounts and the time it is taking to resolve this issue. This led to a meeting with the Secretary of Administration on Wednesday, November 30th involving myself, David Ostwinkle, and Major Holland. We discussed all the problems that we were experiencing and the urgency of making sure our members are paid on time. We also touched on the issue of leave balances that were incorrect and the need to ensure the balances are accurate when it is transferred so no leave is lost. Major Holland offered very detailed accounts of the problems they are having when it came to the communications between Payroll Services Bureau and the Department of Accounts. Also addressed in detail was the lack of training offered by Cardinal on such a complex platform. Secretary McDermid was amazed at the differences in what was presented to her by the Department of Accounts and by what was occurring and has assigned her Deputy Secretary Joyce Reed to work with Major Holland to address all of these issues and committed to resolving the issues we experienced before the meeting. As we were leaving, we were met by Governor Youngkin in the parking lot inquiring how our meeting went and giving his assurance these problems are going to be resolved.

 

On Thursday, December 1st I meet with Colonel Settle and the Command Staff to discuss the upcoming session and to reiterate our efforts to work as a team to resolve this issue and to go into Session to protect the men and women that work for our agency to find ways for better pay and address staffing issues in both sworn and non-sworn positions with the Department.

 

The following day, December 2nd Tim Confroy (President) Randy Beason (1st vice President) David Ostwinkle (General Counsel) and I met with Governor Youngkin where we had a great discussion about the need for personnel, a continual pay adjustment to our new pay plan approved last year and a need to extend the Hazard Duty Supplement from age 67 to age 70 to assist those that are retiring with their healthcare to get the maximum benefit from their social security benefits. All of these were well received by the Governor who stated that he was a staunch supporter of law enforcement, and his Bold Blue Line initiative will be a step in that direction. We also shared our legislative request which he is supportive of and agreed to review.  

 

As you can see, we have had a very busy November and that is carrying over into December prior to the Session starting on January 10th. We ask that you continue to contact our office if you are experiencing pay issues due to Cardinal and that you follow closely the information bulletin the Department is issuing as this continues to be addressed. We are here to assist our members with all the agencies involved, however, if we don’t know your issues, we can’t help. Please email David at david@vspa.org or myself at bcarrico@vspa.org.


Have a great week and I will be following up with any new information as it comes available.



Bill Carrico

Executive Director

 

(Lto R) David Ostwinkle, VSPA General Counsel; Randy Beeson, VSPA 1st Vice-President; Governor Youngkin; Tim Confroy, VSPA President and Bill Carrico, VSPA Executive Director

"TO BE MUTUALLY HELPFUL TO ONE ANOTHER"