Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dmh Retirement Classification topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DMH clinical staff ask committee to reclassify bargaining unit 8 to Group 2
Summary
A clinical social worker and SEIU chapter president testified in favor of House Bill 2802 to classify certain Department of Mental Health bargaining unit 8 members as Group 2, citing increased forensic involvement, weapon‑making and assaults in inpatient units.
Jean Calvert, a clinical social worker with the Department of Mental Health and the SDIU/SEIU Local 509 chapter president, urged the Joint Committee on Public Service to support House Bill 2802, which would assign Group 2 retirement status to members of bargaining unit 8.
Calvert told the committee the DMH population has shifted in recent years and that her inpatient units have seen a 76 percent increase in clients who are forensically involved. She said staff now encounter patients who have learned to fashion weapons from everyday items and that assaults and lost work hours have risen; she cited nearly 6,000 lost work hours due to injuries.
Calvert argued DMH clinicians, rehabilitative counselors, case managers and peer specialists provide assessments, therapy, court support, housing assistance and medication oversight that fit the Group 2 definition of care, custody and instruction. She said staff can be the subject of investigations by the Disabled Persons Protection Commission and that the role should qualify for Group 2 status.
Calvert asked the committee to report H.2802 favorably; no vote or amendment was recorded during the hearing.
