Public Employee Press

Two state workers score $16,000 upgrades

For years, Local 1359 member Raj Shivgulam scored high — and even the highest — scores on civil service exams. But the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal regularly passed him over for promotions.

The Rent Examiner 2 became a victim of management’s repeated use of the “one in three” rule, which lets an agency choose from among the top three candidates on a civil service list as many times as it wishes.

Shivgulam grew dejected and angry as promotions passed him by. He believed management favoritism had dead-ended him. But he continued to throw himself into his work, consistently earning strong job reviews and taking on more responsibilities.

His frustration escalated when he realized that he was being underpaid for his tasks in an overcharge unit. And he shared his feelings with Gurdeep Ahluwalia, another overcharge unit worker who also felt he was doing higher-level work than he was paid for.

After consulting with Local 1359 President Ralph F. Carbone and DC 37 attorney Alan Brown, the two pressed for promotions by asking the state Civil Service Commission to upgrade their job titles.

They argued for the reclassification because they were performing the extensive supervisory duties of the Rent Examiner 3 title. The drawn-out, painstaking process required extensive documentation, including supportive affidavits from supervisors and details about their out-of-title work.

Initially, DHCR rejected their requests by arguing that the funding line for the higher title wasn’t open. Civil Service said they weren’t performing the duties of the higher title. When the union filed for reconsideration, both agencies backed down.

In April, their persistence paid off as DHCR promoted them to Rent Examiner 3. As a result, they will get immediate salary hikes of close to $5,000 and ultimately more than $16,000 as they move up Local 1359’s step-pay plan. With a grade 18 salary of over $53,000 before the promotion, Shivgulam will reach the maximum grade 23 pay of nearly $69,000 in several years.

Ahluwalia will receive similar salary increases. When they leave or retire, the higher positions will be open to other Local 1359 members.

“The pay increase is obviously nice,” Shivgulam said. “But the recognition is more important to me.” “Raj and Gurdeep were very persistent, and their commitment to winning the upgrades paid off,” Carbone said. “Members should know that the union is willing to throw its resources into similar cases.”

“Working with the union, they were able to build up a substantial case for their reclassification,” Brown said. “Management typically tries to trip up reclassification cases on technicalities, but Raj and Gurdeep made sure that all the Ts were crossed and the Is were dotted.”