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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
County hides size of workforce with temps
Posted by:
MysteriousStranger
()
Date: October 20, 2010 07:22PM

Fairfax County hides size of workforce with temps
By: Markham Heid
Examiner Staff Writer
October 15, 2010
Employees hired to work 11 months at a time, with no benefits
Fairfax County for years has employed hundreds of "limited term" workers, who perform the same tasks and work the same hours as full-time employees for almost the entire year, but do not receive benefits, in an effort to obscure from the public the true size of the county's work force.
"The limited-term employees work for 11 months, and then we basically let them go for a month. Then we rehire them," said Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity. "This was a way for the county to grow its employee base without reporting growth in the number of full-time employees."
Herrity said he questioned the practice, but said "prior boards" wanted to project the appearance of maintaining or reducing the size of the county's government, even though the county's number of full-time workers was actually growing.
Susan Woodruff, Fairfax's human resources director, confirmed Herrity's description of the limited-term employment process.
"There's a group of employees that are doing basically the same work as the people next to them" without receiving the same benefits, Woodruff said.
Fairfax County employs between 350 and 400 limited-term employees, according to documents presented at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors' personnel and reorganization committee. The county employs about 12,000 full-time employees who are eligible for benefits.
Woodruff said the current limited-term employee situation had evolved over a number of years and for a number of reasons, but did not say that cost savings was a key factor.
"Different boards and county executives have differing attitudes about the full-time position count and what that means in terms of how we project how efficient we are, or aren't, as a county government," she said.
Woodruff mentioned data collectors in the Department of Tax Administration and human service workers in the Department of Family Services as examples of positions in which limited-term workers were used.
"There was a need for more people and there was no willingness or ability to put permanent merit positions in place, so these [limited-term] positions were used to fill those gaps," she said.
But because of stipulations in the federal health care overhaul bill, as well as some Internal Revenue Service provisions, the county will have to create full-time positions for many of the jobs held by limited-term workers.
Woodruff called the change in policy a "very positive thing," because more county workers would be eligible for benefits, a sentiment reiterated by Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova.
The change in benefits and employment status for the employees is expected to cost the county between $3 million and $3.5 million annually, according to the committee documents.
Woodruff said all full-time positions must be filled through the county's competitive hiring process, so the employees likely would have to reapply for their jobs and would not necessarily be guaranteed their previous positions.
mheid@washingtonexaminer.com
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Fairfax-County-hides-size-of-workforce-with-temps-1229973-105071454.html#ixzz12wbQOBTS
Fairfax County hides size of workforce with temps
By: Markham Heid
Examiner Staff Writer
October 15, 2010
Employees hired to work 11 months at a time, with no benefits
Fairfax County for years has employed hundreds of "limited term" workers, who perform the same tasks and work the same hours as full-time employees for almost the entire year, but do not receive benefits, in an effort to obscure from the public the true size of the county's work force.
"The limited-term employees work for 11 months, and then we basically let them go for a month. Then we rehire them," said Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity. "This was a way for the county to grow its employee base without reporting growth in the number of full-time employees."
Herrity said he questioned the practice, but said "prior boards" wanted to project the appearance of maintaining or reducing the size of the county's government, even though the county's number of full-time workers was actually growing.
Susan Woodruff, Fairfax's human resources director, confirmed Herrity's description of the limited-term employment process.
"There's a group of employees that are doing basically the same work as the people next to them" without receiving the same benefits, Woodruff said.
Fairfax County employs between 350 and 400 limited-term employees, according to documents presented at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors' personnel and reorganization committee. The county employs about 12,000 full-time employees who are eligible for benefits.
Woodruff said the current limited-term employee situation had evolved over a number of years and for a number of reasons, but did not say that cost savings was a key factor.
"Different boards and county executives have differing attitudes about the full-time position count and what that means in terms of how we project how efficient we are, or aren't, as a county government," she said.
Woodruff mentioned data collectors in the Department of Tax Administration and human service workers in the Department of Family Services as examples of positions in which limited-term workers were used.
"There was a need for more people and there was no willingness or ability to put permanent merit positions in place, so these [limited-term] positions were used to fill those gaps," she said.
But because of stipulations in the federal health care overhaul bill, as well as some Internal Revenue Service provisions, the county will have to create full-time positions for many of the jobs held by limited-term workers.
Woodruff called the change in policy a "very positive thing," because more county workers would be eligible for benefits, a sentiment reiterated by Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova.
The change in benefits and employment status for the employees is expected to cost the county between $3 million and $3.5 million annually, according to the committee documents.
Woodruff said all full-time positions must be filled through the county's competitive hiring process, so the employees likely would have to reapply for their jobs and would not necessarily be guaranteed their previous positions.
mheid@washingtonexaminer.com
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Fairfax-County-hides-size-of-workforce-with-temps-1229973-105071454.html#ixzz12wbQOBTS
Re: County hides size of workforce with temps
Posted by:
Stranger in the Night
()
Date: October 20, 2010 08:22PM
Let me get this straight...
Fairfax County BoS wants to hold the line on employee growth so they hire hundreds of temps.
Now they want to make them all permanent and blame the Obama health care bill for "forcing" them to do that?
Fairfax County BoS wants to hold the line on employee growth so they hire hundreds of temps.
Now they want to make them all permanent and blame the Obama health care bill for "forcing" them to do that?
Re: County hides size of workforce with temps
Posted by:
Herrity is a Dick
()
Date: October 20, 2010 09:53PM
The Fairfax County Government hires people to do the jobs that need to be done, at the behest of the Board of Supervisors, and when they find a way to save the taxpayers money by not paying them benefits and this Supervisor doesn't want that. Now that healthcare reform has passed, he wants to change direction.
What the fuck? This coming from a guy that pays his Chief of Staff $35,000 MORE than any of the other chiefs of staff for any of the other 8 Supervisors. I wonder how his chief of staff would take that job if he knew that i didnt include health care coverage? I bet not.
I am getting a bit tired of this windbag and his bloviating over fiscal responsibility.
Its not like Herrity JUST got elected, the guy has been there a few years, and THIS is the issue he wants to hang his hat on? What as asshole.
What the fuck? This coming from a guy that pays his Chief of Staff $35,000 MORE than any of the other chiefs of staff for any of the other 8 Supervisors. I wonder how his chief of staff would take that job if he knew that i didnt include health care coverage? I bet not.
I am getting a bit tired of this windbag and his bloviating over fiscal responsibility.
Its not like Herrity JUST got elected, the guy has been there a few years, and THIS is the issue he wants to hang his hat on? What as asshole.