July 9th HR Meeting
Good morning all. In a never-ending attempt to keep our members and bargaining unit informed, we are trying to find a balance between providing updates and inundation of emails. We want to provide information that we think is important for broadcasting, information regarding actions we can take, and, in this case, answers and clarifications to questions that have been brought to us through our AEE brown bag meetings and from hundreds of calls and emails.
Late in the day on July 9, the AEE Board met with the ODOT HR Director (Patrick Moore), Assistant HR Director (Suzanne Harpell), and the HR Business Partner assigned as the point of contact for AEE on the ODOT RIF webpage (Dan Klump). The almost hour-long meeting covered several topics, and we wanted to highlight some of the issues that may be of particular interest.
1) AEE has submitted several Requests for Information (RFIs), asked questions, and requested meetings and updates to better understand the process, cross check layoff and seniority lists, and obtain the formal written notifications and information as stipulated in Article 6.5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Several of those requests have been missed or misplaced, and responses are still pending, and requested/required meetings yet to occur.
2) “Option 3” – In the Options form ODOT attached to the Layoff Notification Letters includes the 4 options listed in Article 6.5 and employees are asked to rank them per the CBA. AEE received a draft of the Options form on July 3, and recommended that the attachment be edited to provide spaces for the (up to) three classifications selected for demotion. That recommendation was apparently not accepted, as evidenced by the unchanged Options form sent with Layoff Notification letters. In our July 9 meeting, as AEE demanded greater understanding of ODOT’s plan for the bumping process, we were informed that if the process gets to “Option 3” for an employee, ODOT HR intends to “pause” to reach out to that employee, request the (up to) three classifications the employee elects as demotion options, and then wait for “24 to 48 hours” from the employee to make their decision and respond to HR. AEE informed HR that there was no provision in the AEE CBA for this “pause” or the arbitrarily and unilaterally selected timeframe, but that we would entertain a written proposal for this suggested process. ODOT HR did not acknowledge the problem with implementing a process that impacts our members without seeking and receiving AEE’s approval. Rather, AEE was informed that DAS Labor Relations Unit (LRU) would have to provide such a proposal. To date, AEE has received no such proposal.
3) The “process” that HR intends to follow was explained by Dan Klump, who will be the person conducting the processing Options forms for each AEE member who received a layoff notice. HR will collect all responses and begin the process only after all forms are submitted. Each form will get sorted first by classification, then within that classification by seniority. HR will process the forms for a single classification, starting with the most senior employee, and moving down in seniority until that classification is completed, then move on to the next classification. Once all classifications have been processed and resolved, any bumping that occurs will result in the next round of Layoff Notification Letters. This process will continue until it is completed. HR did not comment on how the process would be impacted by point Number 2 (above), or what effect that may have on the anticipated schedule.
4) Rumors – There have been a few, and we spoke about one of the biggest that we are hearing, regarding multiple lists – one for a second round of layoffs, and one for positions that are being eliminated, but the people in those positions are not on the layoff list. First First – there is no second-round layoff list. The only “second round” of layoffs the State has been discussing is in regard to the early 2026 timeline, in the event that funding does not get sorted. Second Second –regarding the mysterious “position elimination list”, HR emphatically stated that this did not exist, further stating that *all* vacancies are frozen and will be eliminated as part of this effort, and that none are being withheld for post layoff reorganization, etc. These issues were characterized by HR as being “contrary to the guidance we’ve been putting out…” to management.
5) There has been a lot of concern and questions around the layoff list that DAS issued on or about July 7. AEE wanted clarification on the list(s), how they came about, and why they are so different from ODOT’s. HR explained that ODOT Directors assembled a layoff list that was done via an operations perspective. ODOT HR explained that they ignored the names and disciplines/crews from these lists and then sorted them by Zone 1 (Region 1 and 2), and Zone 2 (Regions 3, 4, and 5). The example given was: “If there are a total of three PE-2 positions on the list for Zone 1, and I just sorted by seniority […] I just looked at the least senior (position in the classification) and marked that position off.” According to HR, this process was done to transform the entire list ODOT Directors generated and changed it to the least senior of each classification. To be clear To be clear, AEE cannot and is not confirming this is what actually occurred nor condoning decisions made by ODOT and DAS. We merely want to share an explanation of the process that, according to ODOT HR, produced the final layoff list, since the State has not bothered to communicate the same directly to you.
6) Finally, and relating to the subject above, AEE asked about whether any consideration was given to specialization in any given classification, or to technical positions that are “one deep”. The answer was a short and sweet “No.” HR implied that they would be relying on the Unit Manager to know whether someone bumping in could perform the job. They also stated that they would review the PD for each position to evaluate whether any special qualifications beyond the MQs were required. There was no discussion on how the Agency plans to address the loss of core operational functions created by the first round of layoffs when those positions are eliminated. There are several specialty positions that perform statewide functions that will no longer be staffed, and several more disciplines that have had multiple frozen vacancies that are having the last person in that discipline being laid off, essentially removing those disciplines from certain Regions.
In closing, we will end it with a somewhat shocking and disappointing comment from the ODOT HR Director, Patrick Moore, who, at one point stated, “[Horse] Carts are toppled over all over the place, and we can’t find the horse.” We are doing our best to address your questions and inform you all when there are missing horses at large.
We apologize that AEE is forced to send so much information out to Members and Represented Staff, but we are trying our best to keep you informed about all the issues, questions, and concerns that we all have. Unfortunately, it is difficult for us to have answers for you when ODOT HR, the T-Building, and DAS do not have answers or accurate information for AEE. It is important to stay engaged, help the AEE Board help you, and stay active and very vocal.
In Unity, Your AEE Board