Council committee reviews expedited transfer portal as city departments report vacancies and Workday issues

Los Angeles — City personnel and department leaders told a City Council committee on an ongoing effort to move employees out of positions slated for elimination and into funded vacancies through an expedited transfer process, while also warning that data and technical problems in Workday complicate the calculations used to determine potential layoffs.

“The expedited transfer team continues to work with the departments to fill their special funded positions,” Steve Rivera with the Personnel Department said, reporting updated counts of available positions and applicant activity.

Citywide numbers cited at the meeting showed the pool of positions available for transfer had increased to 332, applications received totaled 1,647, unique employees referred numbered 1,213 and total applications referred were 2,847. Personnel also reported 38 conditional job offers (CJOs), with roughly 19 recorded in Workday so far.

Why it matters: the city’s layoff calculations use Workday employment records and a run done by the City Administrative Officer and Personnel Department. Until vacancies, internal transfers and accepted job offers are recorded in Workday, departments remain on lists of positions “still filled” and therefore within the pool that could be eliminated — which officials said risks overstating the number of people subject to layoff.

Context and departmental reports

Melissa Velasco of the City Administrative Officer’s (CAO) office said the budget process originally identified 614 positions on the potential layoff list; as of a July 1 Workday run that list contained 595 positions still filled. Velasco said departments must complete transactions in Workday promptly so the city can shrink the universe of positions that might be eliminated.

Personnel noted Workday data issues and “blockers” that require IT assistance or manual workarounds. Vince Cordiller of the Personnel Department said staff are working with departments to correct flagged employee job-history records and that some of those corrections are complex and require programming fixes in Workday: “We are working with each department to get those records corrected.”

Several departments described local steps they’ve taken or opportunities to absorb employees:

- City Planning: Kevin Keller, representing City Planning, said the department expects to absorb the bulk of impacted planning classifications into existing or newly funded special-funded positions (including positions tied to LAWA work at Van Nuys). Planning reported 34 remaining vacancies, of which six were “in process.” City Planning said most planner classifications are internal and not commonly transferable across other departments.

- Information Technology Agency (ITA): Ted Ross, ITA general manager, said ITA’s authorized positions have been reduced sharply over recent years and that, of 65 position reductions for the fiscal year, 34 were filled and could be affected. ITA said it could absorb about 21 employees into existing vacancies, leaving roughly 13 filled positions that could face layoff if other transfers do not materialize.

- Housing Department: Tricia Keane, housing executive officer, said Housing is in a position to hire from the transfer pool rather than needing to absorb staff. Housing reported roughly 125 vacancies (the report snapshot given to the committee showed 102) and said it had interviewed applicants and made four offers, two of which were accepted.

- Department of Building and Safety (LADBS): Tony Pelaez said the nine filled positions that had been slated for elimination were transferred internally and that LADBS currently showed about 173 vacant positions available to fill.

- Department of Transportation (LADOT): Laura Rubio Cornejo said LADOT avoided most layoffs by shifting filled positions to special-funded roles and by using vacancies; the department reported about 85 vacancies in the most recent pay-period snapshot and said it expects the remaining internal transfers to appear in Workday in coming days as IT processes batched transactions.

Workday, the transfer portal and process improvements

Personnel and department leaders described several practical barriers. Departments urged clearer labeling of job variants so applicants know whether they are applying for a specific programmatic version of a common classification (for example, different types of management analyst roles). Housing and others requested more granular information on the transfer portal and FAQs so they can target interviews and offers.

Several speakers emphasized the timing mismatch between departments’ internal transfers and what appears in Workday. The CAO and Personnel said they will run another Workday extract after the end of the most recent pay period to produce updated counts by department.

Next steps and committee direction

The committee continued the item with no vote and asked several departments to appear at the next meeting with written reports. The committee specifically requested weekly tracking for civilian positions in the Los Angeles Police Department and directed that the following departments submit written reports on the number of vacancies, transfer opportunities and classifications: Board of Public Works, Community Development (ConAd), Engineering, Sanitation, Street Lighting, Street Services, Harbor and Airport. Personnel and the CAO said they will also provide a revised Workday run and anticipated anecdotal updates from departments about offers accepted but not yet effective in Workday.

Quotes

“The list of positions that were eliminated that were still filled. At that date, the number was 595,” Melissa Velasco, CAO, said of the July 1 snapshot used for layoff planning.

“We are working with each department to get those records corrected,” Vince Cordiller, Personnel Department, said about flagged employee histories in Workday.

“Those the staff in those positions have been transferred internally to vacant positions,” Tony Pelaez, Building and Safety, said, reporting the department’s nine affected positions had been reassigned.

Ending

No formal action was taken at the meeting. Committee staff instructed departments to return with written reports at the next meeting and ordered weekly updates specifically tracking civilian positions in the Police Department. Officials said updated Workday runs and department-provided status notes should produce materially different layoff counts when transactions and accepted offers are fully recorded.