Mileage Policy Changes in Hennepin County
UPDATE 7/1/2008: Mileage Reimbursement Rate Increases: The mileage reimb. rate has increased by 8 cents to 58.5 cents per mile effective July 1 - Dec. 31, 2008. Parking rates remain the same.
UPDATE 4/24/2008: Mileage Grievance Settlement
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UPDATE 3/24/2008:
It
has been a long and circuitous road on this mileage
grievance issue. Thanks go to Barb Harrison for being our
member signatory on the official grievance form. More thanks
go to Matt Nelson for carrying all of the information you
have provided to his meetings with the Employer on this
issue. And many thanks go to those of you who took the time
to send us information when we asked for it. You helped us
build the case to show the Employer that this issue did not
affect just three or four employees as they originally
contended. Instead, we have been able to show them that
there are many folks who have been adversely affected by the
change in the mileage policy.
The Mileage and Parking Reimbursement Policy has been modified to account for those employees that are designated as having home offices that qualify as "Principal Places of Business".
You can read a Copy the Updated Mileage Policy Here for additional information.
The
new mileage policy will be added to the online Admin. Manual
hopefully within a couple of days.
On the Office of Budget and Finance's website is the form that will need to be completed / approved for employees to be reimbursed, under the "Home Office as Principal Place of Business" provision of the new policy (under "Principal Place of Business Designation Form"). All members who believe they are eligible should forward this form to their supervisor for completion and processing.
You
can view a Copy
of the Principal
Place of Business Designation Form Here
The new Principal Place of Business Form has been added to the Office of Budget and Finance (OBF) website for your access and use.
Follow
the instructions for completing the form for reimbursement
under the updated policy. Not everyone will qualify to have
their office at home listed as a home office so please read
the instructions carefully and complete the form as the
information relates to you.
Retroactive
compensation will be processed for those employees who
qualify under the new rule and can provide a record of their
mileage eligibility and actual compensation for the period
involved (5/1/2007 – present).
Employees
whose Principal Place of business is determined to be their
home are eligible to receive mileage and parking to / from
staff meetings.
Thank you for your patience during this process. I know that it has been hard to do your job knowing that you were incurring a cost on behalf of the Employer that you were not being recompensed for. Hopefully, for the majority of you, this revision will help to get the compensation you deserve.
Jean Diederich, President, AFSCME Local 34
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UPDATE 2/14/2008: OBF (Office of Budget and finance) has not yet finalized their policy change and process, but when they do, eligible employees will be reimbursed retroactively for this mileage. Christine Yates, Labor Relations Representative, Hennepin County
UPDATE 12/13/2007: The mileage reimbursement policy is still being evaluated by Labor Relations and management within the various Departments. Apparently, in order for the county to determine proper application of the policy to differing groups, they first need to determine consistency across jurisdictions. As this issue has now been pending for over seven months, we would hope they are able to finish their work before the end of the year, and respond to the union's grievance.
UPDATE 10/29/2007: AFSCME Local 34 continues to meet with the employer in an effort to resolve this grievance in a positive manner. The county is currently looking at all employees of the local that might be 100% telecommuters in an effort to draft agreeable language. The option of taking this issue to arbitration for settlement remains.
UPDATE 10/13/2007: Tentative date set for mileage grievance arbitration hearing - 12/3/2007.
UPDATE 9/25/2007: Jeffrey Jacobs has been chosen as the arbitrator for the mileage grievance. We are attempting to agree on dates for the initial hearing. We are hopping he is available before the end of October. We will continue to attempt a settlement with the county prior to formal arbitration if possible.
UPDATE 9/22/2007 - Arbitration Schedule Moving Forward: The county still has not responded to the grievance. A list of arbitrators has been chosen. We will proceed to arbitration in October/November depending upon the arbitrators schedule. At that time, we anticipate the arbitrator will rule on the arbitrability of the grievance filed. Assuming he/she finds in the affirmative, we will then move to the arbitration hearing itself.
UPDATE 8/23/2007 - letter from Bill Peters, Labor Relations to AFSCME Local 34 Business Agent, Matt Nelson.
August
21, 2007
Mr. Matt Nelson
Business Agent
AFSCME Council 5
300 Hardman Avenue
South
St. Paul, MN
RE:
Mileage Reimbursement
Dear
Mr. Nelson:
You
have raised issues regarding Hennepin’s administration of
our parking reimbursement policy as it relates to employees
who telecommute. Labor Relations staff along with other
county staff is reviewing your concern(s), our policies and
Internal Revenue Service information. This is a complicated
issue. Therefore, the Employer requests
additional time to thoroughly research this matter.
I believe we will be sufficiently prepared to respond
to your concerns no later than September 7.
I
know you are interested in moving this matter to closure.
If you wish to proceed with your complaint by
requesting a list of arbitrators from the State of
Minnesota, Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS), please feel
free to do so. However,
please understand that should this matter be eventually
placed before an arbitrator, Hennepin reserves its right to
argue arbitrability.
If
you have questions, please feel free to contact me at (612)
348-6511.
Sincerely,
William P. Peters
Labor Relations Director
Hennepin County
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UPDATE
8/1/2007:
AFSCME Local had filed a
grievance in opposition to the county’s change in the
mileage reimbursement policy effective 5/2007. Labor
relations initially asked for an extension of time to
respond to the grievance. AFSCME agreed to the extension in
an effort to resolve this matter positively. However, on
7/24/2007, Christine Yates from Labor Relations responded to
our grievance with a denial letter.
AFSCME Business Representative, Matt Nelson, responded to Labor Relations in a letter dated 7/27/2007 indicating “the union is not satisfied with the denial in the mileage grievance so we are appealing this grievance to arbitration”. We also requested an expedited move to arbitration so as not to delay this decision any further. Labor Relations has now requested a two-week delay in an effort to settle the grievance prior to arbitration. We will keep you posted!
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UPDATE 7/9/2007: Matt Nelson, Barbara Harrison and I met with Labor Relations for our mileage grievance. We had a good discussion about the issue as we explained the adverse effect this policy has had on our folks who work out of their homes – have no desk anywhere in a county building – and drive to see their clients. I sent an e-mail asking the telecommuters impacted to send me their mileage totals since May 1, 2007 along with the miles they have been able to claim. Here are the totals from the responses so far: total # of miles driven = 11,951 minus the total # miles claimed = 3925 and this equals the total # unreimbursed miles = 8026 times rate of $.485 which equals $3892.61 lost reimbursement for our members. This is just for the period May 1, 2007 – June 18, 2007 and is for the 17 members who have responded to date. If you are a “100%” telecommuter with your County provided desk, chair, phone/computer equipment and supplies at your home - and have not responded to the request for information - please do so as soon as possible, so that we can have as complete a picture as possible of how this policy has impacted our members. Jean Diederich, President, Local 34
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UPDATE
6/18/2007:
To Local 34 Members: Matt
Nelson, Barb Harrison and I met with Chris Yates and Bill
Peters from Labor Relations this morning regarding our Local
34 class action grievance on the mileage policy. We
had an open and honest discussion of the policy and it's
impact on our members. The matter is not resolved as
Management is still waiting for more information regarding
the IRS regulations.
One of the pieces of information that we agreed was needed
was the number of folks who have been adversely affected by
the current policy.
So, to that end, if you are one of the folks who have had
not been able to claim mileage or as much mileage as prior
to the 5/1/07 policy effective date, please send me an
e-mail detailing the following:
1)
total number of miles you have driven for work since 5/1/07
along with number of client visits
2) total number of miles you have actually claimed for
mileage since 5/1/07
3) name of your supervisor and program manager
4) your job class/title
Also, if you are not doing so, please keep track of the
total number of miles you are driving - even if you have not
submitted them for reimbursement under the new policy. Our
goal is to make everyone who has been adversely affected
"whole" - in other words, get those miles
reimbursed as they would have been under the policy prior to
5/1/07.
Please share this with all your co-workers who are under the
same constraints and ask that they also forward this
information to me.
Thanks much,
Jean Diederich, AFSCME Local 34 President
MC 880
Phone: 612-348-0266
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UPDATE 5/29/2007: Representatives from AFSCME Local 34 are currently attempting to set up a meeting with Labor Relations regarding the mileage policy grievance filed recently. It is hoped that an initial meeting will take place soon.
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UPDATE
5/8/2007: Subject:
Recent Changes to County Policies on Mileage for
Telecommuters and for Meals - Based on the most recent
e-mail sent out on April 26, 2007 reiterating the County's
mileage policy, it does not appear that there will be relief
for our members when it goes into place effective May 1,
2007.
Based on that e-mail, Local 34 has filed a grievance on a
class action basis asking that our affected members be made
whole as we feel the policy violates past practice as well
and is a unilateral change of a term and condition of
employment. The specific article in our contract is
Article 39. We have also asked to Meet & Negotiate on
this issue. Both requests cover all Departments where
we represent folks.
This
process does take time so we will not see results
immediately. We will continue to keep you informed of any
updates as they occur.
Thank you to everyone who has taken time to contact me, as
well as other officers of the Local, to express your
concerns and to share how this change in the policy will
impact your individual situation. All of that
information will be included in the meetings with the
Employer.
Please feel free to share this information with your
coworkers. Jean Diederich, AFSCME Local 34
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UPDATE
4/26/2007: This
communication is being sent to all HSPHD staff. It is
primarily for use by those staff, and their supervisors, who
are telecommuters and/or those who travel outside the metro
area on behalf of the department.
Recently, you received a communication on updates to the
county's Administrative Manual on changes to the county's
policy for reimbursement of meals, mileage for 100%
telecommuters, and per diem reimbursements when traveling.
We have received numerous questions about the changes to the
meals and mileage policies. Attached are fact sheets
to help explain how the policies will be implemented in
HSPHD.
Please note, as stated in the Administrative Manual, these
changes were necessary to comply with IRS requirements and
cannot be waived.
If you still have questions after reading the attached and
reviewing the Administrative Manual, please email
HSPH.Fin.Payables.
CLICK HERE to read the policy.
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UPDATE: (4/19/2007)
Travel
Expense and Mileage Policy Changes Proposed - A Message from
AFSCME Local 34 President, Jean Diederich (4/19/2007): Officers
of Local 34 received a huge volume of phone calls and
e-mails regarding the 4/17/07 HSPHD Communications notice
regarding the county policy changes to travel expense and
mileage reimbursement . We discussed this for over an hour
at our Executive Board meeting last night with the upshot
that we would ask that the changes be held off until we have
had an opportunity to meet with the Employer to review the
changes.
Below is the response I received from Curt Haats, Office of
Budget and Finance. I asked for his okay to share this with
you and it was given. What this means is that those of you
who submit your mileage reimbursements for your County work
can do so as you have been doing. The Local will continue to
stay on top of this issue. Jean
Synopsis of Message sent to Curt Haats from AFSCME Local 34 (4/19/2007): At this time , Local 34 is asking that the implementation of the mileage reimbursement policy be placed on hold until such time as the Union has had an opportunity to sit down with the Employer to discuss this change. We feel very strongly that the adverse impact this policy will have on our members who have mileage reimbursement due to the nature of the work they do for the Employer warrants a complete and thorough review.
Response from Curt
Haats to AFSCME Local 34 (4/19/2007):
Thanks
Jean. As a change in county policy, HSPHD does not have the
ability to officially not implement this. However, I will
forward your concerns to the Office and Budget and Finance
and have directed Finance staff processing these
reimbursements to operate on a "business as usual"
mode until directed by County Administration.
Also, as we discussed, please be aware, that the policy
change, as we discussed, really isn't a change in policy but
an implementation of Internal Revenue Services requirements.
There is substantial risk to the county and its employees of
not implementing these rules. Curtis L. Haats, Chief
Financial Officer, Hennepin County Human Services and Public
Health