GOVERNOR'S EMPLOYMENT PLAN GOES TO LEGISLATURE

posted by Andrea Kelly

Governor Jan Brewer has been backing legislative changes to state employment policies, and she recently asked the legislature to consider her plans to revise the employee merit system.

The employment protection system spells out how employees may be hired, fired and disciplined.

A bill (HB 2571) to make make it faster to hire, easier to hire, and easier to fire, is scheduled for a hearing in the House Employment and Regulatory Affairs committee Thursday morning.

“We need to have tools at our disposal more like what the private sector has, to reward those employees that are performing and to discipline those employees who are not," said Matt Benson, a governor's office spokesman.

The proposed changes could make it easier to retain employees who might otherwise leave for jobs at private companies, he said.

Unions representing state employees have said the Governor’s plan takes away protections for good employees, but Benson says it gives the state a greater ability to reward those good employees.

If the Arizona House and Senate pass the bill, and Brewer signs it into law, it would go into effect starting September 29. Most of the 29,000 state employees already covered could stay in the merit system, but Benson says some, such as supervisors, IT employees or attorneys would automatically lose coverage in the merit system.