Where Did Gracedale's $5 Million in Retention Bonuses Go? (A Partial Answer)

I left you last week with a question. Where did $5 million in retention bonuses for Gracedale workers go?  More importantly County Council left us with that question and wants Controller Tara Zrinski to find out. I have a partial answer. 

The $5 million in retention bonuses are part of a $15.5 million spending plan at Gracedale, approved in 2022 by County Council. It was at the specific request of Executive Lamont McClure. The only Council member to vote against them was John Brown. 

McClure had told Council that the administration would pay all employees at Gracedale an annual $2,500 bonus over a period of four years. He also said that hiring and retention bonuses would bring in 54-60 additional nursing staff and enable the nursing home to provide the required nursing care needed at the facility. 

This was his plan, a bonus plan that should have continued through 2026.

So what happened? I can give you a partial answer. 

Gracedale has both union and nonunion (career service) employees. The CNAs and LPNs are represented by AFSCME. Last year, the administration and AFSCME negotiated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which steps and salaries were adjusted upward. The starting rate for a new CNA grew from $14.28 to $16.61 an hour. For LPNs, it increased from $21.35 to $23.69 an hour. This agreement would also enable the county to pay more to nurses with prior experience. At the time of this written understanding, retention bonuses for LPNs and CNAs may have been eliminated, although the contract itself is silent on this point. Executive Lamont McClure explained these changes to Council at a Human Services Committe on June 6, 2024.

Council member Tom Giovanni asked about the retention bonuses. 

Giovanni: "The retention bonuses, those still ...."

McClure: "They're done. They're finished."

I doubt whether this exchange told Council much of anything. My interpretation at the time was that they had expired and had only lasted two years. I had forgotten that the resolution proposed by McClure and adopted by Council provided that they last four years.  

I suspect many Council members thought the bonuses had expired as well and that McClure was trying something new as their own performance review suggested. 

Later that day, at a meeting of the full Council, the MOU was approved by all nine members without discussion. In the words of a reader who sounds exactly like Council member Ken Kraft, "Those dopes voted for canceling the bonuses and the contract!"

But did they? 

Notwithstanding McClure's representation to Giovanni, nothing in the MOU even addresses the retention bonuses or their elimination. But the MOU does declare, "The provisions of this Agreement set forth the entire agreement among the Parties. The Parties acknowledge that they have not relied upon any representation or statement, written or oral, not set forth in this Agreement. This Agreement may be amended only by a subsequent written agreement signed by all Parties." 

McClure no doubt intended to tell Council that he had rescinded the bonuses. I think he failed to make that clear. Even worse, his MOU also fails to accomplish that feat because it is never addressed in a contract that claims to represent the entire agreement. 

Labor lawyers screwed that one up. They should have addressed the retention bonuses

Arguably, AFSCME can now file a grievance claiming its workers are entitled to those bonuses, especially since County Council was never asked to end them.

So who's the dope, Ken? 

I've told you about the CNAs and LPNs. But what about the RNs? So far as I know, there is no similar MOU between the Steelworkers' Union, which represents RNs, and the county. Hopefully, the audit will reveal that they are still receiving their bonuses. If they are not, that is a big problem. 

What about the career service workers? 

They were informed by a county administrator, in an email dated January 16, that they'd be getting no bonuses. They were informed that these were "temporary", and that the money would instead be used to care for residents. 

This action was taken without expressly informing Council, although they did approve a budget that in effect authorizes the changes. Council was never asked to modify the 2022 retention bonus resolution. 

Though McClure prides himself on transparency, and generally is, the way he handled the elimination of retention bonuses is certainly less than forthcoming with a Council that already is wary of him. It is also extremely unfair to career service workers who no doubt were counting on this money. Instead of retaining people, a stunt like this drives them away. It's true that some of them were abusing overtime, but that only happens if their employer allows it. 

Although County Council is seeking an audit from the Controller, it also has the right to seek periodic reports from The Executive. Since Council would like to know what has happened, it can request that the Executive provide an answer as well and should probably do so unless McClure provides a report on his own, detailing what has happened. Council deserves this, but the people who work at Gracedale deserve it even more. 

Harry Truman once stated that we all are entitled to a "fair deal" from our government. Promising an annual $2,500 bonus over four years and then taking it away is hardly a fair deal.