New state overtime memo upends arbitration
By Gwendolyn Craig
A forest ranger grievance concerning overtime disbursement is back to square one after a union representative said the state changed course last minute, effectively ending a meeting intended to resolve the matter.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Police Benevolent Association have butted heads on how to assign overtime. The PBA wants the DEC to follow its ranger contract, which only allocates overtime based on a seniority list. The DEC wants to issue overtime based on a ranger’s proximity to an incident.
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The PBA says it has been in negotiations with the state over addressing emergency and non-emergency overtime opportunities, but the DEC’s choice to issue its own policies without union agreement has frustrated its members.
Rob Praczkajlo, forest ranger director at the New York State Police Benevolent Association, said the arbitration meeting the union was scheduled to have with the DEC was abruptly cancelled last year. That’s because the DEC removed an order it issued to rangers regarding overtime disbursement. Its removal was what the PBA had hoped for, but then DEC sent out a new one.
Praczkajlo claims it, too, violates the rangers’ contract and sidetracks previous overtime negotiations.
The DEC said it does not comment on pending grievances, but records show ranger supervisors believe the new directive follows the contract.
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What’s the issue?
The sticking point is whether the DEC should strictly adhere to the contract wording, which offers overtime through a rotating list based off seniority. The DEC has left itself wiggle room in its memos to offer overtime not based off the seniority list.
Praczkajlo said the public’s safety is a top priority, and proximity might be the appropriate response for emergencies. But the ranger contract doesn’t distinguish between emergency and non-emergency overtime responses, leaving it up to management’s interpretation. Many times, Praczkajlo said, overtime calls are not life-and-death emergencies. He wants to see labor and management come to an agreement on such responses in the contract to provide more clarity.
Union representatives also said management’s overtime dispersal gets more murky when it offers opportunities for out-of-state wildfire responses and training.
They argue by upending the arbitration and issuing a new memo, the department has sidetracked those negotiations and given itself the final say.
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The arbitration was originally scheduled for early 2025 but was moved up to mid-December, Praczkajlo said. The DEC issued the new directive on Dec. 11. Praczkajlo filed a new grievance on Jan. 9, which the DEC denied earlier this month.
Praczkajlo appealed and said the union is attempting to fast-track the new grievance and get it before an arbiter.
What does the contract say?
According to the forest rangers’ contract, which runs through March 31, 2026, “overtime work shall be offered to employees on the basis of seniority and shall be equitably distributed among employees who normally perform such work. Each employee shall be selected in turn according to the employee’s place on the seniority list by rotation provided, however, that the employee whose turn it is to work possesses the qualifications and ability to perform the work required.”
There are other stipulations in the contract for if rangers decline overtime assignments or if they’re skipped.
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What did the first order say?
On Feb. 14, 2023, now retired Director of the Division of Forest Protection John Solan, issued a directive that uses a ranger’s proximity to an incident to award overtime for an initial response.
“When appropriate or necessary, the forest ranger assigned to a geographic area of responsibility where an incident occurs, shall be part of the initial proximity response, even though they may not be the closest,” the memo said.
It added that it would consult the seniority roster “once an incident has transitioned to an extended operation.”
What was the original grievance?
Records show the DEC has received dozens of grievances in the last two years from rangers in the Adirondack Park region. Many have to do with how overtime is distributed.
It is rare for a grievance to make it to the arbitration stage. Some union members estimated there had not been such a proceeding in at least a decade.
The union grievance headed to arbitration in December wanted the DEC to follow the contract and use the seniority roster for overtime responses.
Rangers also argued that supervisors were not keeping updated seniority lists.
They were also unclear how the department chooses out-of-state responses, such as addressing Canadian or Californian wildfires. Sometimes management uses the ranger contract, while other times the selection process seems random, some said.
The DEC declined to explain why it had pulled the Solan overtime directive.
What does the new directive say?
Robert D. Cavanagh, acting director of the Division of Forest Protection, issued the new directive on Dec. 11. It rescinds the Solan memo.
Cavanagh deleted all mention of the overtime assignments by proximity for an initial response.
Instead, it reads: “Whenever operationally feasible and consistent with the safety of the public and DEC employees, overtime assignments shall be generated by the Division’s Selection Roster,” referencing the overtime section in the rangers’ contract.
Supervisors will determine what districts respond and how many rangers will be assigned, it adds.
What is the latest grievance?
Praczkajlo takes issue with the department’s apparent hedging on following the contract when it says, “whenever operationally feasible, and consistent with the safety of the public and DEC employees.”
The word “districts” is also not part of the ranger contract, he said.
He wants the department to stick to the seniority roster and negotiate with the union over how to address emergency situations.
What was the DEC’s response?
Though the DEC declined to comment, Praczkajlo provided its decision on Feb. 4 denying the new grievance.
In the denial, the department said the only way to assign work is by district and “assignment of OT by statewide seniority is not prescribed by Article 15.” It said its newest memo follows the ranger contract.
Top photo: New York and Maine personnel pose for a photo at the Micoua Fire in Quebec in the summer of 2023. Pictured from left are, Sean McGuire from Maine, DEC Forest Ranger John Scott, DEC Forest Ranger Howard Kreft, Stephen Osiris from Maine, and DJ Judd from Maine. Photo courtesy of DEC
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