AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic lawmakers are questioning raises granted by the Department of Health and Human Services to caseworkers in its child welfare division. They wonder why the DHHS workers will get raises, while other state employees continue to work under a pay freeze.
Low morale and high rates of burnout within DHHS’ Office of Child and Family Services prompted the LePage administration to boost pay for some caseworkers in the division, according to recent emails sent by Therese Cahill Low, the office’s director, to DHHS employees.
The emails were made public Monday by the Maine State Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989, the union that represents many state workers.
“This pay raise is an important first step by this administration in showing that it recognizes the important work performed by state workers. We hope that this signals a new beginning in labor relations with the LePage administration, and all state workers can begin to share in the state’s improving financial situation,” union President Ginette Rivard said in a press release accompanying the emails.
The union has publicly clashed with the governor’s administration over contract negotiations for state employees.
While the DHHS caseworkers will see a pay hike, other state workers in the executive branch continue to work under a pay freeze put in place four years ago.
“I’m interested in the fact that one group of state employees is being singled out and how that gets reconciled with what’s happening to other state employees and how it’s being paid for,” Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said Monday at a meeting of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.
DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew told the committee her department would provide further information about the raises.
The raises were reviewed by the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Mayhew said in response to questions by Rep. Dennis Keschl, R-Belgrade.
“Responsibilities, roles, all of that changes over time, so that’s what these reviews are part of,” Keschl said.
Mayhew and Cahill Low, in visiting DHHS districts across the state, heard many complaints about a freeze on merit pay raises, particularly the effect on caseworkers at the lowest pay levels, according to the emails. Some districts are struggling to handle their caseloads in the face of vacancy rates that are 40 percent and higher, the emails state.
About 130 employees, or 43 percent of the department’s caseworkers, were granted a pay raise effective Aug. 10. Caseworkers at the lower pay grades, which start at $16.39 an hour, were bumped to $17.88 an hour, which will be the minimum starting pay for future new caseworker hires.
Maine’s pay for caseworkers falls short of compensation offered by other states, including Vermont and New Hampshire, Cahill Low wrote in the emails.
While the caseworker vacancies are critical, DHHS is also looking at ways to support workers in other positions, she wrote.
It is completely unfair to grant pay increases to some state employees and leave the other state workers with nothing. I have been a state employee for 9 years and have not rec’d a pay increase for at least 5 years, I work hard for what little pay I receive, last year I brought home barely $18,000, lets give all the DHHS “caseworkers” raises and all the “paper pushers” nothing!! And wonder why the turn over rate increases!
Really? Fair? Are you an adult? Please remember that the only thing “fair” is, is the operative part of “Fairly Tale”. I’m not saying you’re well paid or don’t deserve or need a raise, but let’s not think fair is the answer, we cannot give across the board raises to all employees that receive a check from Augusta without looking at different jobs differently. Unless you all are part of the same unit bargaining unit, you really must show your worth within your own unit.
And perhaps we are overdue for a governor and DHHS commissioner who can show us their worth!
A new one who doesn’t hire relatives?
I am part of the same bargaining unit and I am not receiving a raise this time around, I have 9 + years state service, have not rec’d a raise in 5 years and I make less than the “federal poverty limit” I’m just saying if you were hired with a contract stating you would be get X amount of wage increases and you didn’t receive them how would you feel? How would you feel if you, like me, were completing the job duties of 2-3 employees because of hiring freezes? I feel over worked and underpaid, I struggle to afford everything, I at times have to decide not eat dinner so my kids can and I work as a “public servant” for the state of Maine, always helping others, but I feel like I am unable to help myself because of the little amount of my paychecks. Not trying to act like a child, but those state employees who have stuck around thru out the years, should be the ones receiving wage increases not just certain positions/job titles.
This is the Republican way, make you hate the employees who got a raise and forget to blame the ones really at fault, the Republicans.
The furlough days, hiring freezes, and the lack of increases in wage began with Baldacci, and are only being continued by the current administration. Though the furlough days were done away with once the schedule for them was completed last year or the year before.
The furlough system was much more fair than selective raises to select groups. But, these are Mary’s minions and why would anyone dare to question her actions! Besides, she is going “to provide more information later”! What a farce.
You act like this is something new. There are positions thoughout state government who receive a stipend (an amount over and above the listed pay grade) because they have difficulty hiring and retaining employees at the listed pay grade.
Oh no I don’t blame those who will get the raise I blame the governor for not excepting the maine state employee union contract.
Do you mean accepting?
What did you receive under the contracts under the prior governor? You are not taking furough days under this governor that you did under the prior governor.
So…what’s stopping you from getting a non-government job in the private sector?
McDonalds, Wal-Mart or the Call-Center? You choose.
I’m not disagreeing with the State’s obligation to bargain in good faith, I merely pointed out that “fair” is really not a word that fits into the adult world. Fair is ultimately in he eye of the beholder is it not? If all State workers are treated the same in a “fair” system how does this account for those whose jobs are far more demanding? Unfair right? Differences owed to the local, the job type, the travel requirements, hours worked, etc., etc. all become factors, one can hardly expect everyone to receive equal raises. Job relevance in the current market is also a factor. And when the taxpayers are feeling the economic crunch, they have less sympathy for those who they fund. I’m sure you deserve better, I’m just not for blanket raises that ultimately result in less increases for those who really deserve them. Fair in this case means lowering all levels to the lowest common denominator. I’ve been on both sides of the Union fence in all levels of either side, trust me, “fair” is not reality.
The next time you have someone come in for help because they lost their job and have nowhere to turn, and you tell them there’s nothing you can do for them, tell them how bad you have it! You know the ones I’m talking about. The people the Governor just threw under the bus. He gave your raise and any help you could have offered to the wealthy for tax cuts.
I am just asking, not criticizing, do you not get health benefits? If you do that adds a huge amount of money to your pay. I worked for a township that I lived in in New Jersey, and the starting pay was terrible. I didn’t know when I was hired that full family health benefits, prescriptions, and the town paid in to my pension. That made the salary quite acceptable. Also paid vacation time, sick time. Again not criticizing you, everyones life is different.
According to your lack of logic you can not freeze the wages of all employees for five years either.
Don’t fall for divide and conquer. It is time the rest of state employees got a raise.
My point was not that state workers don’t deserve raises, but across board raises are not “fair” either. Fairness doesn’t exist outside of the same unit.
I agree with you, but probably only because my husband works for the state and hasn’t had a raise in 5 years, maybe “life isn’t fair” but this just isn’t Right.
Well don’t feel too bad. Only 130 are getting these and only in OCFS. Not OFI or any other division.
Yes I work in OCFS and I am not one those who are receiving a wage increase
Yes, I understood that, and based on the salary you mentioned you aren’t a caseworker. My point was, you are not alone in not getting a raise. I don’t begrude the OCFS caseworkers that are on step 1 or 2 a pay raise.
It is not fair that the rest of State employees have gone years with pay cuts and no raises, but don’t fall for the Republican line. They want you to hate the few they gave a raise to so they can divide and conquer.
I agree with you, but let me give you some insight to where I work, it is a 6 BILLION dollar company, and I can assure you the “paper pushers” at my work get paid way more than the actual workers; administrators, and directors will always get more pay than the actual workers; it is sad but a fact of life. By the way, you do a great job and I think that you deserve a raise. I have worked with you in the past, so this I know.
Why are the leftist complaining about raises? NOT FAIR! Tough it out, life isn’t fair! Bickering like this makes me think than none deserve a raise.
I’ve seen the workloads these people have. at those rates they deserve a raise. you can’t give everyone raises on the bases of “fairness” you need to earn it!
not all of them deserve a raise!!! some need to learn good customer service and being nice to the people that they serve!!
These folks getting raises serve the children of Maine, they are not Food Supplement, Mainecare and Food Supplement workers.
You need to learn to be nice to the people that serve you.
Executive Branch employees are hardly underpaid. They also do not have the face the same risks that caseworkers in protective services do. While there should be raises for other state employees that have been without a raise in 5 years, let’s back off on the criticism of the DHHS employees. They have a difficult and sometimes dangerous job that police officers would not want. I know this because when I was a child protective worker, police officers told me more than once they would not want to do my job. Why? Because domestic situations are the riskiest that police officers have to deal with, while every situation a DHHS worker has to walk into is by definition a domestic situation.
Apparently you are not familiar with the branches of State Government – If you are employed at DHHS then you, too, are an employee of the Executive Branch. That is not exclusively designated for the Penguin.
So the Guv gives a payraise to some overworked caseworkers (they earn their money !!) and the SEIU complains ????
When all else fails, you could try reading the article.
And the employees who work at the SEIU have been receiving their wage increases as promised the entire time, also it is unfair to only allow caseworkers or certain positions pay increases and not the “paper pushers” who work behind the scene, who are far more over worked and underpaid, the administrative workers many times are completing 2-3x’s the amount work they were hired to do because of hiring freezing and position eliminations.
Try reading and comprehending what you read. The SEIU did not complain about the employees getting a raise.
………………………………………
Too late.
Not in his wildest dreams.
i know the wench that works at DHS that was rude to my elderly mother last week doesn’t deserve a raise!!! she deserves to be FIRED!! she told my Mom that she would send another review form to her but it would be the last one. well my Mom didn’t get the first one!!!!! and then she accused my mother of lying to her about not getting the first one!! some of those workers need a reality check!!!
I work at DHHS and I am extremely courteous to everyone I speak with both by phone or in-person, and if I feel if someone at DHHS treats you inconsiderately, you need to find out what their name is and complain to their direct supervisor. Public Servants as State Employees are called should be very considerate and understanding too all of the people we communicate with.
As for that, people who contact DHHS should treat us with respect also, treat others as they wish to be treated, that is what I believe. I always answer the phone/or greet in person with the utmost repect, just as I want the other person to treat me.
I encourage others to complain if they are treated disrespectfully, also remember mainecare/foodstamp workers have double the caseload their positions are supposed to have, so sometimes if is difficult to complete the amount of work their direct supervisor expects of them, considering they too have not rec’d wage increases or cost of living increases in 4-5 years and are expected to twice the work their positions were created to do.
I know many don’t care if these public servants are over worked and underpaid, many people are so completely rude to their eligiblity workers, please try to be respectful of your eligiblity worker and they too will treat you with respect….they too are humans and are not perfect as are you…
I commend you for being one of the rare workers that are actually courteous. My Mom is one of the most nicest, honest people you will ever know. She was actually shocked that the woman talked to her that way. and yes some of the workers have to deal with a lot of ignorant people, but my Mom did not deserve to be treated that way. I told her to call a supervisor, but my Mom isn’t the type of person to start a confrontation. I wanted to call the supervisor and tell her what was going on but Mom wouldn’t let me cause i get a little irate at the way I have been treated in the past by some workers. and yes I do understand that some of the workers are overworked and underpaid, i wasn’t talking about all workers just the one that had been rude to my Mom. I know I am not perfect, never said I was.
You can call in and be confidential and complain about the way you have been treated. It is not ok to be disrespected. Part of the job is listening to others, being courteous, and completing the duties you were hired to do. Please if you are mistreated you must speak to a supervisor about it as it is not ok and disrespect is not part of the job. People like who your mother dealt with are the ones who give state employees a bad name.
Rude people are everywhere. It is a damn shame when the public runs into such treatment from a public servant. But rude behavior seems to have become acceptable. Common courtesy is like common sense, no longer all that common.
Like the Governor?
word.
We need to record all phone calls for better customer service.
Who should pay that added cost?
former MaineCare recipients will flip the bill.
The supervisor was suppose to know what was going on. Was it cover-up???
You are in luck that rude person that spoke to your mother is not going to get a raise, since only 130 Child Protection workers will get them.
Hate all you like, but when you go off on a rant about someone unrelated to this story, it is you that looks the fool.
how does that make me look like a fool when i was stating my opinion on whether or not i think they deserve to get a raise. I was talking about ONE worker that does NOT deserve a raise in my opinion. Thats what I thought this forum was for our opinions!!!
Repeat: They get a delivery confirmation from the post office.
bull crap they do!!!
Not all letters sent out by DHHS get deliverly confirmation. Most go standard mail. There are offices that send out all letters certified, but Food Sup/Med/TANF, isn’t one of them.
thats about the only thing that i agree with you on.
Because you are going on and on about a Food Sup/Medical worker and how that one person shouldn’t get a raise, when that one person isn’t, in fact getting a raise.
I understand you’re upset by the unkindness of that one worker, but it has absolutely nothing to do with this article, at all.
why don’t you stop being a troll about everyones comments and go away!!!! i have seen your comments in other forums on here and you have nothing nice to say to anyone.
Make sure you throw in that word “hate” to demonize anyone you disagree with.
Who looks the fool?
What would you call it? Extreme dislike? Ok, split that hair, if you like.
But honestly, if you had read what I had written, I don’t disagree with Rubysal, about how worker can treat clients. What I disagreed about was talking about it in relation to this subject, which has absolute zero to do with Rubysal’s situation.
Oh, so in other words, because she “spoke out of turn” that is reason enough to say, “it is you that looks the fool?” That was extremely rude of you, no matter how you try to justify it.
I’d rather be a fool than a rude fool like you.
That is fine. I appreciate your comment.
They send the form with a receipt.
The state is cutting back on certified/return receipt mail. First class mail for most mailings. I saw a memo which showed Maine Revenue is saving a bundle by not using certified/return receipt for most notices.
You should write a letter to DHS and also to Senator Collins office they might just do something about the rude worker!!
Divide and conquer. A great ploy. :( SAD!!!
State employees who retired with the guarantee of a specific
income, and are still waiting for that promise to be kept should come
first. “A man is only as good as his
word” this man is no good.
So you think the retiree’s should get income increases 1st?
You mean the retiree’s that when they were working full-time, before retiring, who rec’d wage increases and cost of living increases, as their contract stated, not the emploees who have been and still are working, completing the positions duties they were hired to do with no wage increases and children to feed. Nice to know you care about the public servants who are currently working hard to barely feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, and every chance the gov gets to take from them, he does…
I, for one, think the current state employees who were hired with the “guarantee” of the specific income they were promised and are still waiting for the promises to be kept and are still completing their job duties they were hired to complete, assisting with and ensuring that the children in the beautiful state of Maine are safe and their needs being met, should also come first.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the retiree’s deserve their income increases also, but what about the state employees who are working for far less than the “federal poverty limits” at jobs assisting in and ensuring the children and adults/elderly in this beautiful state are safe from abuse, neglect, and exploitation?
Yes, I agree the retiree’s also deserve the income they were promised, but I also believe the current employees deserve the wage increases they were promised when hired as public servants for the State of … “Maine The Way Life Should Be”
State employees have NEVER gotten cost of living increases, where did you ever get that lie? They have only gotten negotiated raises and then had them taken away in violation of agreements.
I am a state employee work at DHHS and used to get 3% cost of living increases every January until about 5 years ago. Each position has a pay range with 8 steps and every year when the employee has their eary evaluation the employee is supposed to get a merritt increase until they get to step 8, and every January the employee used to get a cost of living increase also.
You never got a COLA. I am a 20 yr. State employee. You got step raises if you got a good review of your performance. Your step could be denied for poor performance. A COLA is an automatic raise to make up for inflation and is over an above any negotiated raises. State employees have tried to negotiate a COLA but have never been successful. Remember that even if they did a COLA only keeps you even or slows the loss to inflation.
Don’t give the right wing trolls any bait.
You are wrong. It amazes me that you have been with the State 20 years and don’t know you got COLA’s. Unless you aren’t in the executive branch part of State Government, in which case it is possible, but all executive branch workers got Cola’s in the last 20 years. Not every year of course, but they did get them. You might want to confirm this with your union.
Do you even know what a COLA is? Obviously not. A COLA is an adjustment to your pay based on inflation, it is automatic and ongoing. A raise is a negotiated amount of increase in your pay that does not go up with inflation. Learn what you are talking about before you rant. Look both ways before spouting off without knowledge. Why don’t you try to prove me wrong? Yelling won’t work, what is next? Maybe you can type in all caps.
It was actually in Jul after the end of the fiscal year in Jun.
State employee’s got them in the first two years of Baldacci’s second term, as part of the contract. They were 2% both times and then at that time there were still the steps. Since then, nothing. There were also COLA’s in his first term, but not each contract.
Wrong again. A COLA is an automatic raise based on inflation. The 2% increases were raises based on negotiation. Please learn the terminology before you rant and rave. State employees have never received a COLA until retirement.
If you’re a true Dem., which sounds like you are, I’d ask What’s your “Union” doing for you now? Sounds like they made promises they can’t keep. I’ve worked many jobs and in all cases if you do crappy work you get crappy pay, if you make yourself indispensable, they will find a way to pay you more to keep you!
Our union has stopped the Gov in his tracks. He and his high priced NY lawyer thought they could just change the contract on July 1 2011, never bothering to read Maine law. The Union has kept their promises but the legislature and this gov. have defaulted on “the full faith and trust” of the State of Maine by stealing pension funds. My Union and the retirees are taking the Gov. to court with a good chance of reversing the theft. My Union is working for me to maintain a fair work place against the worst government conditions imaginable.
My Union is representing me, not the Koch brothers.
What promises did the Union make? How can it be theft if the money wasn’t yours in the first place.? Maintain a fair work place, what’s fair? Koch brothers or Tax payers
I would like to see a year to year comparison of state employee cost of living increases, merit increases, furlough days etc. compared against the CPI, and then evaluate the performance of the union. I think you might be unpleasantly surprised.
I am in a job right now where we have no union. I would kill to belong to a union. One finger alone can bend and break, but five fingers make a mighty fist!
You go, Narsbars!!!!
During Gov Baldacci’s adminstration you received furlough days, step increase freeze, hiring freeze, no COLA etc. At the same time the Democrats passed their “tax reform” bill which by the third year gave the top 1% a tax cut of $34.5 million while the remaining 99% received a tax increase of $3.5 million. This wasn’t good enough for Governor Baldacci, he held out to make skiing & golf exempt from sales tax while they added sales tax to your car repair amoung other things. Your union endorsed this bill. Of course they endorsed Gov Baldacci also. Your union recieved additional dues as a result through the fair share law. Did the union cut your dues as a result? Representing you?
I do excellent work!! I am the only person in my office who knows how to do the duties I complete. My Union is doing what my union dues pays for. I get crappy pay for excellent work, I am indispenable to the office I work in but sadly it is not the decision of my supervisor to not give pay increases it is the decision of the governor. If it were the decision of my supervisor I definately know I would not have gone 5 years without a raise.
No one is indispensable.
Thank you for helping people. I hope that they use you as a model for other workers. My heart does bleed for you. My momma was in the same situation. She wouldn’t eat so we(4 kids) could eat. Then when we left the table,Momma would eat what was left. I was 5 yrs old when I saw her do this. I cried myself to sleep that night. I then started to not eat so my Momma could have some food. In this great country,it shouldn’t be this way,but it is. I hope to Mother Goddess that this changes. Good luck to you. Again,Thank you.
Sometimes when you’re feeling important
Sometimes when your ego’s in bloom
Sometimes when you think that you are
The best qualified man in the room
Sometimes when you think that your absense
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul
Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to your wrist
Then take it back out and the hole that remains
Is the measure of how you’ll be missed
Now you can splash as much as you want to
You can stir up the water for sure
Then stop and you see in a moment
That the water’s the same as before
Now the moral to this is quite simple
You must do the best that you can
But you’ll always be wise to remember
There is no indispensible man
What if I take the bucket and pour it over your head? There is nothing wrong with a person taking pride in their work. I bet you work in management.
I do work in mangement sir. Earlier in my career I was a rank and file member of the Utility Workers Union of America and served proudly on the local Executive board of that Union for many years. Taking pride in one’s work is normal and appropriate. However, no one including me is indispensible
Wow, I called that one, didn’t I? You have management written all over your comments!
Didn’t the govenor call all the state workers inept? I’m surprise that any are getting a raise.
Not inept, at least not publicly. He said “corrupt”.
Ego’s galore. Sorry but no one is indispenable. True we who work hard believe ourselves to be but when we are gone, the job continues to be done. Everyone is only a number, union or not.
Too little, too late governor. You can’t save the repiblicans with 2 months of playing nice after 2 years of being a jerk and a bully.
Exactly! That’s what is behind his last-ditch effort to be Mr. Nice Guy. He seems to forget, though, that Mainers aren’t a stupid lot and we will repay him in November.
Considering what DHHS doesn’t do, and that is put in a full 8 hour day, they should have a decrease in pay
Really are you a state employee, probably not, but I am and put in an 8+ hour day five days a week, I currently do the job duties of 3 employees and I am over worked and underpaid, I have not rec’d a wage increase in 5 years and I don’t know where you get your information from but every single person who works in my office puts in an 8+ hour day every day monday thru friday. Sorry you are sadly mistaken.
Do you know the answer to your problem in the private sector? Quit and find another job.
what jobs?
What jobs are you referring to?
You think they have it so good why don’t you do there job ?
Now you can see why the cutbck as you have proved you can do 3 worker jobs, by yourself. So, you were overpaid before, for many years now your making up for some of it. You guys tend to operate on a different level and I have never seen a state worker, working very hard. Yes, I have had experience and the private sector folks must work really hard, for the most part as there is no one that can come to their rescue.
Most DHHS workers have to work more than an 8 hour day in order to get the job done. They are lucky to get bathroom breaks, much less lunch breaks like the rest of the workforce. And since they have not had wage increases in several years, while the cost of living continues to rise, that has the same effect as a pay cut. If you call your worker and they are not there to take your call, that is because they are out in the field, visiting families at their homes, visiting children in foster homes, attending meetings involving their clients at other agencies, or at court. It does not mean that they are taking off early.
Are you a personal pharmacist….working out of your home?
And what important service does your job provide to society? Or have you had a few unfortunate run ins with DHHS yourself and now feel the need to disrepect them?
Is that why the State had a class action lawsuit brought against them for workers working through their lunch’s and their breaks, and after hours without pay?
Gee, guess you didn’t hear about that, I wonder why?
Apparently democrats are against people working for the State making a “living” wage. Sad that they are such bigots.
I work for the State and definately DO NOT make a “living wage” I make less than “federal poverty limit” I feel the Republican Governor is against State Employee’s in general, especially against state employees make a “living wage” well except for himself and all of his relatives he has hired who are underworked and overpaid. Too bad he is so against the very employees who are employed by the state he is the governor of.
It more seems to me the Democrats are questioning why some state employees are being granted pay increases but not others.
The why is obvious. Because the gub nah wants you to fight with the employees you work with, not the guy at the top and the Republicans that stole your pension and keep your wages frozen.
I would think the answer would be obvious. The morale at DHHS is low, they have high turnover of staff, which is never good for families involved with the agency. Just as people say that police need to be paid better in order to attract good candidates to that profession, so it is necessary to do the same for child protective workers.
people who work for the state make a living wage. If state employees cannot live on what the state pays them they can:( stop spending so much :( find another job. I bet there are thousands of people who are working minimum wage who would love to move up in pay, with benefits……State worker benefits are almost = to the amount that is direct deposited into thier bank accounts…..maybe there is your states problem…
I understand your problem. I work in the private sector, the same job for 19 years, and I do not make a living wage. The problem is that 80% of the money in this country goes to 1% it’s citizens.
Why refer to the parties ? That is so outdated. It is the person of merit or not as this is 2012 and we need to rid ourselves of the party seperations.
Well my wife works in the social services sector and they have not had a decent raise for sometime and they are bombarded with paperwork? Why is it they allow DHS to get a raise when the entire system is so corrupt and they have found so many errors, nothing like rewarding them.
These piddling $45/week raises will not change the fact that these people are extremely overworked. Most departments in the state are laughably understaffed, with individuals doing the work of three and four people. The public moans about overpaid workers – the only people that work for the state who are overpaid are commissioners who are directly appointed by the governor, and his (cough) extremely qualified (cough) daughter.
Thats what the public want them doing the work of 4 people if they can’t do it then they want them thrown out like trash
5 highway workers standing around while one is working. Come on, the private sector also is overworked and underpaid. Its the times and to keep your job, you must work harder than before. Everyone has to unless, you have a powerful union and then, you are abe to cruise, as always.
It’s obvious you have never worked on a construction site. It’s not possible to run a job where everyone is jumping all the time. Ask your friends at the water cooler.
I did not know some of the Governor’s relatives worked as DHHS Case workers.
The Governor’s daughter could not handle working at DHHS, that would mean actually having to do something for her, I believe, $40,000 a year job.
If life was fair, Child protective workers would get a salary closer to that of air traffic controlers. No other job in State government involves so much risk. Make one wrong decission, and a child dies. Try sleeping with that weight on your mind.
When a protective worker makes a mistake and a child dies, That worker’s career is over. The union won’t fight for them, and usually the worker’s supervisor is fired as well.
Workers have upwards of 30 cases. this means that fewer than6 hours month can be designated for any one case. This includes driving time, and time to do the mountain of paperwork necessary for a satisfactory preformance evaulation.
It is an impossible job and I do not resent these workers a raise.
No I am not a CPS worker, nor is anyone in my family or circle of friends.
On top of all that, part of why State Workers in the Executive Branch haven’t had a contract since Sep 2011 is that the LePage admin wants to take away the State paid cell phones for these workers. The reason they do get State Paid cell phones is they are sometimes on duty for overnights, and need to be reached wherever they are.
Which is part of why it surprises me that LePage is conceding the pay raise here.
And the dems will complain about this also.
Come Oct. 1, thousands of Mainers are slated to lose benefits under MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, through controversial cuts aimed at balancing the budget that have fiercely divided lawmakers this year. I can’t understand how the State can justify a raise for DHHS workers, when they are going to cut benefits for a lot of people, to balance the budget. Maybe this is where the money is coming from for the raises.
the issue with raises has nothing to do with cutting MaineCare…the time to question the MaineCare cutting would have been when the program was expanded beyond sustainability, not now when people are trying to correct it…..
The money has to come from somewhere. Kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The idea is to push the poor out of Maine and into other states. That has been the idea for quite awhile and this is a way to accomplish it.
DHHS caseworkers do not deserve raises. They cannot do their jobs it a timely fashion. Like contact one parent in the 35 day time limit, do not return phone calls, are very hard to get in contact with and they have blood on their hands. They need laws to work by these are for young and old a like: Like they have to get a second opinion from a different hospitals, the family can get as many opinions as they want, the family has to be told of there rights, the family have a right to protect their family members from DHHS and any doctor (QUACKS). The family has the right to chose the doctors/hospital their family member uses, all medical records while a family member is in the care of DHHS will be turned over to them and their lawyer free of charge, DHHS has to talk to the family members regular doctor, other doctor the person sees on a regular basic’s, friends, family. Complains about DHHS has to be investigated by an outside of government source.
I have seen cases where the police appeared to have lied and covered up for DHHS. Any doctor that gives a diagnose for DHHS and is wrong can be sued for malpractice.
I have a lot more to say and and it comes from experience.
Oh yes one more thing ” If you don’t get it” its called friendship!! I guess caseworkers don’t have friends.
Maine’s pay for caseworkers falls short of compensation offered by other states, including Vermont and New Hampshire, Cahill Low wrote in the emails. SO DOES THE PAY FOR MOST ALL JOBS WITHIN THE STATE OF MAINE, THATS NOT NEWS. THE STORY SHOULD BE THAT HUMAN SERVICES NEEDS TO BE AUDITED AND RUDE PEOPLE TERMINATED. THIS IS A JOB FOR A PEOPLE PERSON NOT EGO’S. IN ADDITION, SO MANY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO ANSWER AN INQUIRY, OR TO ASSIST PEOPLE. I FOR ONE, DO NOT BELIEVE A RAISE AT THEIR INCOME LEVEL IS JUSTIFIED. NOT AT THIS TIME, FOR SURE.
It is simple.. They need to keep them happy to steal more children to bring in more money for the state.. Other state agencies don’t bring in the amount of money that DHSS workers do from stealing children and destroying families.. For each child taken from a family the Government through Tite IV Funding will pay the state 4,000 – 6,000 per month per a child. The state is also reimbursed for each class/hoop in which the parent jumps through and they are paid $1.00 for every dollar they collect in child support.. It goes much deeper than this however, there isn’t much point in pointing it out since people will refuse to believe what I’m saying and not do their own research..
State agencies are losing their star workers who are leaving for livable
wages and better conditions. Corners are being cut and the mission
statements of those departments are not being met. The ability to serve the citizens of Maine is suffering. I.e, Maine Prisons are overriding custody levels by 20%. This means 20% of prisoners at minimum custody are actually medium and are higher risk, but they are allowed to work in your neighborhoods and be unsupervised. Serious incidents in Maine prisons have increased by 25% in the past year. This includes assaults, drugs, etc…