CalPERS has descended with melancholy back to the COVID-19 office, affecting the morale of some workers at a time when pension fund managers are struggling to rent and retain workers.
Starting March 1, CalPERS maximum painters are required to work 3 days a week to ensure proper operation and collaboration, allowing painters with medical or other reasons to request moderate adaptations so they can continue to paint virtually full-time. More recently, CalPERS replaced its policy to reduce the number of painters sent home in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak after the state Department of Health’s labor rules were replaced in May.
However, since March 1, COVID-19 cases in Sacramento County have increased and workers and a union representative have spoken at CalPERS board meetings to ask pension fund officials to review policies back to the office.
California’s $441. 9 billion pension formula in Sacramento is rarely the only one that struggles with the look of its back-to-office policies. to fill 10 positions on its investment team of more than 400 people who have left since March and when worker engagement is critical against a backdrop of volatile markets that challenged fund returns during the last fiscal year.
Employees and a union representative gave the impression to the board at their last two meetings to complain about regulations for returning to the CalPERS workplace and the COVID-19 outbreak. SEIU Local 1,000, which represents 1,300 CalPERS employees, filed a petition in May calling calPERS to strengthen its policy regarding when staff deserve to be sent home in the event of primary outbreaks. The petition, signed by 539 CalPERS employees, was sent to CEO Marcie Frost and board chair Theresa Taylor.
The union also held two of the joint worker-employer committees.
In June, the union sent the effects of an investigation into the return to CalPERS workers it carried out. The 43 five respondents gave CalPERS an overall protection score of 2. 98, with five being the safest. The research also showed that of 62 workers who indicated they had requested moderate accommodation, 30 were rejected.
“I CalPERS is doing everything it can to comply with the rules of the State of the CRPD (California Department of Health) and is looking to go further in the event of an outbreak,” said Taylor, who is also president of SEIU. . Local 1000, District Labor Council 786 representing state franchise tax board workers.
However, he added that the board has no role in disputes between control and unionized employees. “It’s our responsibility. “
A spokesman for the country’s largest public pension plan said CalPERS’ struggle with the most productive way to create a hybrid environment in the midst of a pandemic is not unique.
“We face the same thing as all other state agencies,” spokesman Joe DeAnda said. “There’s nothing unique about our scenario, or the investment scenario compared to the rest of the organization. “
Michelle Tucker, director of human resources, and Dallas Stone, chief of CalPERS’ operations facilities division, attended union meetings and negotiations between union members and control are ongoing regarding the option of remote paintings, Mr. DeAnda said.
On a July 15 website, SEIU Local 1000 said that since staff returned to the workplace in March, two years after a work-from-home order, CalPERS control has taken inadequate steps to protect their fitness and safety.
“Since then, the control has not widely reported exposures and infections in the office, exposing workers, as well as their circle of family and friends, to a threat of disease,” he said.
A 22-year-old painter from the investment office who spoke on July 12 told the board that morale was at its lowest level he had ever seen. from home. Two days after the sleep, she said she had contracted COVID-19, as did her youngest daughter who had a high fever. He told the board that he had conducted a fictitious survey of the investment workplace and that almost no one was looking outside for the paintings.
Mr. DeAnda said the individual’s comments on morale and exits are “conjecture,” as CalPERS’ open/exit rates are none other than those of general times. In addition, only 10 members of the investment office’s team have left since CalPERS instituted its hybrid cadre policy in March, he said.
The controversy comes as CalPERS is filling vacancies. Effective July 26, CalPERS announced seven investment positions, adding a deputy director of personal assets, a chief investment officer for governance and sustainability of the board of directors, a chief investment officer to lead and credits. strategy and an investment manager for your opportunistic portfolio.
At the off-site board meeting, Hoang-Van Nguyen, chairman of seIU Local District 1000 Labor Council, which includes CalPERS employees, told the board that the investment has been in a STATE of COVID-19 outbreak since June 29.
The third floor, which houses a component of CalPERS’ investment team of about 400 people, remained in an epidemic state until July 21, Mr. Said Since March, CalPERS has recorded 254 positive cases of COVID-19, adding 134 work-related positive cases. instances, he said.
Nguyen also said that between CalPERS board meetings in June and July, the control team replaced its regulations to return to the office, reducing the number of workers sent home in the event of an outbreak.
In June, Ms. Nguyen filed a petition signed through 500 CalPERS employees requesting, among other things, that when there are several epidemics in various departments, staff be sent home for their “health and safety. “Additionally, although Sacramento County CalPERS, placed in a higher COVID-19 prestige as of June 2, did not have a mandate requiring staff to wear a mask in the office, he said.
“Since June, we have experienced a serious deterioration in our operating conditions,” Nguyen said at the July 12 board meeting. Instead of sending workers home on the occasion of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Array, they are asked to move into a mask, he said.
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