Public Employee Press

Local 375 gets DDC Engineers $150K in out-of-title win

As a result of the settlement of their out-of-title grievances, twenty Local 375 members working at the Dept. of Design and Construction received promotions.

The workers' salary increases amount to about $7,500 each. In total, they received an estimated $150,000 in back pay.

"We were very happy to reach this settlement with DDC and to avoid going to arbitration," said Claude Fort, president of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375. "The settlement recognizes the hard work and tremendous responsibilities that our members assume. Now they are being justly compensated."

As engineers-in-charge, the workers oversee major construction projects with budgets ranging from $50 million to as high as $100 million. The grievants included Civil Engineers, Associate Project Managers and Mechanical Engineers. All were bumped up a level in their civil service title series thanks to the grievances, which Local 375 Rep Elena Mora handled.

The projects that the workers oversee include jobs such as upgrading water mains, sidewalks, sewers and utilities, as well as the installation of anti-terrorist ramps near buildings. Local 375 argued that the members were doing out-of-title work because they have the ultimate responsibility of signing off on projects and dealing with multiple jobs at the same time - which is beyond the scope of their duties.

"Every little bit helps," said Jatin Upadhyay, whose new title is Mechanic Engineer Level 3, commenting on his pay increase.

Upadhyay noted the settlement lowered the pay difference compared to his counterparts in the private sector. They are paid about $5,000 to $6,000 more than public employees, he said. "It is good that DDC is recognizing the complexity of our work," he said.

Ashwinkumar Patel moved up to Associate Project Manager Level 2, though he sought a promotion to Level 3. "Little by little," said Patel, whose responsibilities included supervising the Times Square renovation.

He praised Mora and Fort and other local leaders for being on top of the grievances and responsive to the workers' concerns.