Oneida County shall maintain a current Compensation Plan for
all nonrepresented employees. The objective of the County is to provide
an appropriate salary structure in order to facilitate the recruitment
and the retention of competent employees, and to provide appropriate
pay incentives for heightened employee productivity.
(1)
The Labor Relations and Employee Services Committee or its designee
shall be responsible for the development and administration of the
Compensation Plan, through periodic reviews and comparative studies
of pertinent factors affecting the levels of pay. The Labor Relations
and Employee Services Committee shall recommend necessary amendments
to the County Board, when necessary, which shall become effective
in accordance with the action of the County Board.
(2)
Such Compensation Plan is directly linked to, and shall be based
upon, the principles of uniformity of pay for each classification;
relative difficulty, complexity and responsibility of work; recruiting
experience; prevailing rates of pay for similar jobs in public and
private sector service; changes in cost-of-living indices; and financial
policies of the County.
(3)
Each position shall be analyzed by the Human Resources Director and
the agent or designee evaluating position requests and changes to
determine job value. Jobs of similar values shall be grouped in categories
called grades. Salary grades will be established by the County Board
for each position grade in accordance with applicable criteria. The
Labor Relations and Employee Services Committee will review the salary
grades annually and recommend to the County Board any changes in the
salary grades that appear necessary after consideration of the appropriate
criteria. As applicable law requires, the Labor Relations and Employee
Services Committee may make adjustments in the hours of work, accrual
and use of PTO and holiday time, and other fringe benefits and non-wage
items applicable to nonrepresented employees.
Employees covered under a bargaining contract shall move through
the negotiated wage schedule pursuant to contract provisions. Nonrepresented
employees shall move through the appropriate wage schedule as set
forth by the applicable Compensation Plan.
Occasionally, there may be a need to place an employee in a
position of higher responsibility and pay for a temporary period of
time. Where other provisions are not already in place, the practice
for compensating these individuals will be to place them at the minimum
of the position they are temporarily filling. When such placement
results in a reduction or minimal increase in compensation, the Human
Resources Director shall recommend the step within the Oneida County
Classification and Compensation Plan that provides a minimum of 10%
gain in compensation. Such compensation shall be referred to as out-of-class
pay. A request for out-of-class pay may be requested by an employee
but requires the approval of the department head or oversight committee.
Such request should be presented to the Human Resources Director,
who shall have authority to authorize temporary out-of-class pay for
a period up to three months in duration. Out-of-class pay for periods
longer than three months shall require Labor Relations and Employee
Services Committee approval. Should there be a disagreement between
the requester and the Human Resources Director, the matter shall be
decided by the Labor Relations and Employee Services Committee.
The Labor Relations and Employee Services Committee shall conduct
an annual wage and salary review and make specific recommendations
for changes in pay rates, fringe benefits and other conditions of
employment to the County Board. Any across-the-board adjustments to
the Compensation Plan shall be provided to all employees, including
those serving an introductory period, regardless of their performance
level. All increase approvals shall, to the extent feasible, be on
a timely basis in conjunction with the annual budget cycle.
