It is no secret that top government jobs pay less than comparable ones in the private sector and that this sometimes makes it hard to recruit top-notch people to fill high-level government jobs. But giving one group of political appointees, some of whom have already worked in state government for years, big boosts in vacation time is a potentially costly solution in search of a problem.
Worse, this rewards top-level appointees while the governor has called lower-ranking state employees “corrupt” and has repeatedly attempted to cut their benefits. This gives the impression of rewarding cronies while punishing underlings.
In February, the state’s human resources office sent an email to appointed employees in the executive branch and staff in the governor’s office asking for information about their work experience before joining state government. This information was to help determine if they should get more vacation time. Fifty-four of the 155 employees who were sent the email got boosts in vacation time, some of them hefty increases.
The timing of this effort is odd. Many of these people have been on the job for years; the LePage administration isn’t trying to woo them. Typically, salary and vacation are agreed upon when someone is hired. The state does not have as much leeway in these negotiations as private businesses. Salaries for state commissioners are capped by law, and vacation time accrual follows a pre-set schedule. But all of this has long been known by the people filling these positions, some of whom were appointed by previous governors.
Many of these same employees were given raises by LePage earlier this year. The governor signed financial orders in late June that gave raises to more than 50 members of his executive staff, including members of the Cabinet. These salary increases were approved by the Legislature. The idea to increase vacation time was not brought up for legislative approval. LePage said the vacation time increases were needed so he could hire “good people, not political hacks.” He said this was difficult because the Legislature paid higher wages and offers more generous benefits.
Most commissioners can earn up to $103,000 per year, and the median pay for deputy commissioners is $88,000. The average head of a bureau earns $77,500. The executive director of the Legislature earns $128,000 a year, according to documents from the Department of Administrative and Financial Services.
In 2012, the national average vacation time for American workers in private industry was 14 days after five years of service and 19 days after 20 years of service, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Professional workers get slightly more vacation time than blue-collar and service-sector workers.
Before LePage’s change, executive branch employees who had worked for the state for less than five years, accrued 96 hours — or 12 days — of vacation. Those who work for the state for more than 20 years accrue 192 hours — or 24 days — of vacation.
While LePage has been generous with top-level staff, he’s repeatedly tried to take benefits from and denigrated lower-level state employees.
He sought to freeze merit and longevity pay increases for state employees to balance the current budget. The increases were restored by lawmakers in the budget that ultimately passed over LePage’s veto.
Shortly after taking office in 2011, the governor proposed that state employees contribute an additional 2 percent of their income to the state pension system. This was rejected by lawmakers, but the budget passed that year froze the cost-of-living adjustment for state retirees and then capped future increases at 3 percent.
At a forum at Nokomis High School in Newport in April 2012, LePage called the state’s middle managers “corrupt.” “Believe me, there is a lot of good and hardworking people that work for the state. They are not the problem,” he said, according to press accounts of the event. “The problem is the middle management of the state is about as corrupt as you can be. Believe me, we’re trying every day to get them to go to work, but it’s hard.”
The state needs “good people” throughout its workforce. Demonizing one group of state employees while rewarding another is not the way to achieve this.