Friday, May 22, 2009

Despite freeze, state employees still got raises

From the NY Post:

Gov. Paterson's freeze on hiring and promotions in the midst of the state fiscal crisis did not stop some 32,000 state workers from getting raises, The Post has learned.

The pay hikes, which cost the state about $55 million a year, came after Paterson imposed the Aug. 1 freeze.

The raises, some reaching 50 percent or more, were given to employees who kept the same titles, according to a database of salary hikes between Aug. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, prepared by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office for The Post.

The bumps came as the result of union contracts, arcane civil-service requirements or the whim of bosses.

Many employees also got a 3 percent hike on April 1, an increase Paterson had asked unions to give up because of the budget crisis. The unions refused, and the administration has said it will cut the work force by 8,700.

Paterson's freeze did not affect the Legislature, where some 1,550 Assembly and Senate staffers, who are non-union, got raises.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no problem with the longevity raises. These are raises that are so tiny but the only raise MOST non-political state employees ever see aside from union raises.

Anonymous said...

DP should step down - he is a laughing stock. Stop making NYS a mockery of incompetence of a state.