The first employee pay plan created since the restriction of collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin passed Thursday, freezing state worker pay for two years and restricting overtime pay.
Among those to be affected when the plan takes effect in January are 25,000 University of Wisconsin System employees and 32,000 state employees. 9,000 state workers without previous union involvement are also affected.
The Joint Committee on Employment Relations passed the measure 6-2 down party lines, with Republicans supporting the plan.
Changes have also been made to overtime pay, which cost state agencies including the UW System, $70 million in 2010 according to a report published by the Legislative Audit Bureau in May.
Employees will now only be able to claim overtime pay for actual hours worked, rather than claiming both sick time and overtime pay for working different shifts of the same workday.
Overtime hours will also be distributed based on a rotation of all employees instead of seniority.
For employees of the university, the pay plan means there will be no raises for the next two years. Under the 2011-2013 budget, state agencies, including the UW System, can submit supplemental pay plans additional to those provided for all state employees, according to UW System Spokesperson David Giroux.
Giroux said such plans are "contingent upon us having money to self-fund a supplemental pay plan." He also expressed uncertainty about how potential supplemental plans and the "prospect of anywhere from $65 million to $113 million in new cuts ... might reconcile."
Merit-based pay raises will be available for employees, including political appointees.
"The proposed changes will allow the agencies to operate in the most efficient and economic manner while providing the best service to the people of Wisconsin," Gregory Gracz, director of the Office of State Employment Relations, said to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Vacation, sick leave and other work-related benefits remain largely unaffected by the plan.
Democrats have expressed concern that this approach will reward political allies more than those employees "deserving" of the raise.
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said passing the plan was "a great disservice...to the delivery of smooth and effective public services."
