The Roundup: CalPERS v. San Bernardino; most MI state workers exempt from new anti-union law; NV governor sidesteps...

Storified by Jon Ortiz · Sun, Dec 16 2012 11:48:37

With just 400 to 450 words for our weekly State Worker column, much of what we learn each week never sees print. Column Extras give you some of the notes, the quotes and the observations that inform what's published.

Today's State Worker column takes a look at CalPERS decision this week to add 86 new positions, mostly in its investments and information technology divisions.

Here's the Board of Administration agenda item that piqued our interest in the issue:
CalPERS Finance and Administration Agenda Item 5a

The Roundup: CalPERS hangs out 'help wanted' sign; Bloomberg series highlights California state wages; feds consider...

Storified by Jon Ortiz · Thu, Dec 13 2012 07:14:15

With CalPERS' window soon closing on additional retirement service credit purchases, officials during this morning's board meeting noted that it has set up two fax lines to receive applications for the benefit.

Lawmakers approved a package of public pension changes last summer that include terminating the airtime purchase program on Jan. 1.. The benefit allows pension fund members with at least five years of service to pay both their pension costs and their employers' pension costs for up to an additional five years. The credit is then factored into employees' pensions when they retire.

CalPERS expects to receive a flood of airtime cost requests over the next several days, so do yourself a favor and follow these steps if you're considering a purchase, says fund spokeswoman Amy Norris:

Make sure you meet minimum eligibility requirements. Only active CalPERS members (that means currently working for a CalPERS employer) with five years of qualifying service time with a CalPERS employer member at the time of faxing or mailing the request can apply.

Visit the Additional Retirement Service Credit website. It has instructions about the process and an online cost-estimate tool. Use the tool, because you may quickly find out that the benefit is outside your price range and save yourself and CalPERS a lot of needless work doing paperwork for a benefit you'll end up rejecting.

If you're still interested after completing the cost estimate exercise, download and complete the service credit application found on the "Service Credit Estimate Results" page. It's under the paragraph entitled "IMPORTANT".

Then, either fax or mail the request to the CalPERS office.
The phone numbers to FAX costing requests are (916) 795-1224 and (916) 795-4019.

Don't fax and mail the form -- you'll only delay processing.

All requests must arrive at CalPERS and be date stamped in its mailroom by 5 p.m. PST, December 31.

PHOTO: CalPERS headquarters in Sacramento / Sacramento Bee file

California Correctional Health Care Services has issued lay off warnings to 2,200 of its employees with a goal of axing 829 positions early next year.

The cuts will touch nearly 60 job classifications around the state, from doctors to custodians and impact 38 jobs in Sacramento County. The statewide cuts take effect Mar. 31, 2013.

The state normally issues three lay off warning notices for every position it cuts, and workers in danger of losing their jobs can displace less-senior counterparts in state government, so it's not clear how many staff will actually lose work. Officials don't have an estimate of savings from the reductions.

"Ultimately there is a lot of realigning of staff between facilities and classifications so there is no way to quantify the potential savings associated with the layoffs," Health Care Services spokeswoman Liz Gransee said in an email.

In response to a new audit that highlights a state employee's misuse of state resources during work hours, the Department of Education released this statement today:

SACRAMENTO--The California Department of Education responded today to the report issued by the California State Auditor.

"The Department has taken a number of steps that address issues raised in today's report by the State Auditor," said Communications Director Paul Hefner. "Prior to the report's release, the Department installed upgraded software that restricts employees from posting content to social media Web sites without authorization. The first supervisor named in the report has received additional training. In addition, while the Department was evaluating information provided by the Auditor, the employee involved voluntarily left employment with the Department."

RELATED POST:
California state employee posts nearly 5,000 online comments from work

From biz reporter Dale Kasler's story in today's Bee:

CalPERS must now confront a powerful group of foes in its multimillion-dollar fight with bankrupt San Bernardino: the city's bondholders.

A group of major bondholders filed a 114-page legal protest against CalPERS on Monday, saying the pension fund is trying to win preferential treatment in San Bernardino's case. CalPERS has been demanding the right to sue the city, which has fallen behind on $6.9 million in payments to the giant pension fund after filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in August.

The San Bernardino case and another municipal bankruptcy involving the City of Stockton are testing whether public pension protections or bankruptcy laws reign supreme.

If you haven't read it already, check out Dale's story then peruse the court filing he sent to The State Worker:

Editor's note, 1:02 p.m.: This post has been updated with more information about disciplinary action taken and recommended against the employee who is the focus of the story and his supervisor.

A California Department of Education employee posted approximately 4,900 comments on The Sacramento Bee's website between December 2010 and December 2011, according to a state report released this morning that details several lapses, abuses and illegal acts by state workers and agencies.

Investigators found that the education employee posted comments on sacbee.com 195 days of the 208 days he was at work, averaging about 25 comments per day. On his most active day he wrote 70 comments during business hours.

Quizzed by auditors, the unnamed employee offered several explanations.

First, he said, his online postings were limited to his break times. Auditors looked at online comment records and found otherwise.

Then the employee said his commenting activity fulfilled his job obligation to follow educational technology news. Auditors knocked that down, too: "Although the employee's duty statement allocated 15 percent of his time to technical research and analysis, it made no mention of using state time to post public commentary regarding the results of his research."

Finally, the serial commenter said that for most of 2011 he had a lot of time on his hands because he didn't have any work to do, despite asking for more.

Federal government changes had indeed lightened the employee's workload, a supervisor confirmed, but management "had been able to find other projects to fill approximately 80 percent of the employee's time."

Auditors reported that education took "some informal action against the employee as a result of this investigation" and nothing more. The employee continued to use state resources to post comments.

The report recommends blocking the employee's computer from accessing sacbee.com for a "specified period," and taking "appropriate corrective action" against the serial commenter for misusing state resources and against his supervisor for allowing it to happen.

Auditors also found that the employee misused state time and equipment for his private contracting business during work hours.

Other highlights of the State Auditor's report covering investigations completed between April 2011 and June 2012 (summarized here and embedded below):

Early next year, the state will officially name the junction of Interstate 5 and U.S. 50 in Sacramento to honor Caltrans employees killed in the line of duty,

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 100 lists the State Engineer Memorial Interchangeas one of 26 new highway designations that recall the distinguished service of groups and individuals who have passed away.

Ryan Endean, spokesman for Professional Engineers in Calfornia Government, expects an official naming ceremony in spring 2013.

Since 1924, some 178 California Department of Transportation employees have been killed on the job. The leading cause of death: errant drivers who strike road workers.

PHOTO: The Interstate 5 - State Route 50 interchange / courtesy Professional Engineers in California Government.

Public-sector employers in California wouldn't be allowed to ask their employees or job applicants for access to personal social media accounts, such as Twitter and Facebook, under the provisions of a measure introduced this week.

Assembly Bill 25, authored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos should be a slam-dunk. The San Jose Democrat wrote a similar measure that sailed through the Legislature virtually unopposed during the last session. Gov. Jerry Brown signed it in September to take effect Jan. 1.

AB 25 tweaks that new law, which failed to specify that government employers may not request social media usernames or passwords from their employees or prospective hires. The amendment also bans disciplining, terminating or otherwise retaliating against anyone who refuses a request for their social media information.

Here's the bill language: