Agency Fee Caluculation source documents NAGE Union
| Submitted | Aug. 27, 2013 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: john sites
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
all documents and financial reports (presumably provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document" for HR/CMS which instructs payroll clerks on what amounts will be deducted from non-member paychecks.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
john sites
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 27, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: john sites
To the attention of:
Caroline Henriques
Public Information Requests
Office of the Comptroller
One Ashburton Place - 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Good afternoon,
I have yet to receive any response to my August 27, 2013 public records request for:
... all documents and financial reports (presumably provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document" for HR/CMS which instructs payroll clerks on what amounts will be extracted from non-member paychecks.
I have seen it is often your practice to at least acknowledge the receipt of a public records request and indicate that it has been placed in the queue for a response.
I respectfully request that you acknowledge that you have received my request, and that you provide some indication of when you think a response may be forthcoming. It is well past the the ten day timeline for a response called for by the statute.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
From: Henriques, Caroline (OSC)
Your request is in the queue.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
From: john sites
To the attention of:
Caroline Henriques
Public Information Requests
Office of the Comptroller
One Ashburton Place - 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Good morning,
I am following up on my August 27, 2013 public records request for:
... all documents and financial reports (presumably provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document" for HR/CMS which instructs payroll clerks on what amounts will be extracted from non-member paychecks.
I am wondering when I can expect the documents.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 27, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 27, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 27, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: john sites
Hello,
Please see below for an appeal of this request. A hard copy has been sent by mail to the Supervisor of Public Records.
Thank you.
================
I hereby appeal the failure and constructive refusal of the comptroller's office to comply with my request for public records, as outlined below:
On August 27th, 2013 I requested copies of all documents and financial reports (presumably provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document" for HR/CMS which instructs payroll clerks on what amounts will be deducted from non-member paychecks.
On September 25th, 2013 I received an acknowledgement with no indication of when the requested documents would be forthcoming:
"From Henriques, Caroline (OSC) to john sites on Sept. 25, 2013:
Your request is in the queue.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns."
Inasmuch as The supervisor of Records will entertain appeals between 10 days old and 90 day old, and that my request is about to be 90 days old, I hereby appeal the failure and constructive refusal of the comptroller's office to comply with my request.
The requested documents are not voluminous, nor should they be difficult to locate since the comptroller has based it's instructions to payroll clerks on amounts to be deducted for agency fees from thousands state employee bi-weekly paychecks, on the requested documents/reports.
In the absence of any indication to the contrary, I think it reasonable to infer that the Comptroller's office has simply refused to provide copies of requested the public records.
From: Rastellini, Patricia (SEC)
Thank you, we have received this today.
From: Henriques, Caroline (OSC)
We have been notified by the Secretary of the Commonwealth that we are delinquent on a Public Information Request from you. We apologize for the delay. There has been some confusion here as it appears that there were multiple requests made for similar but different items that inadvertently were tracked as a single item. Now that we have the two requests we would like to respond to both.
The SEC notification was regarding the first request below. This office does not have the records you are requesting. Collective bargaining agreements reside with the employing department, for the executive departments, the Office of Employee Relations in the Human Resource Division.
The second request, which is below the first, we had tracked for response. This Office provides reports available, but in this case a report is not available. As you know we are not required to create new records nor are we required to produce records in the format expected by the requester.
The Commonwealth's Open Checkbook does provide some of the information you requested for calendar years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013:
Employee Name (Last, First)
Job Title
Department
Previous Year Earnings
Earnings
Annual Rate
Caroline Henriques
Public Information Requests
Office of the Comptroller
One Ashburton Place - 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
In electronic format (scanned to PDF would be fine) all documents and financial reports (presumably provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document" for HR/CMS which instructs payroll clerks on what amounts will be deducted from non-member paychecks. I have attached the resource document. Here is an excerpt:
NAGE Union Dues and Agency Fees
Effective July 28, 2013 the following dues and fee deductions apply to NAGE members in Units 01, 03 and 06.
Deduction Code Deduction Description Deduction Amount
NAGMND UnDue:NAGE,Min,FT,PT T $25.50
NAGMNA AgyFe:NAGE,Min,FT,PT T $25.00
NAGM%D UnDue:NAGE,Mid,FT,PT % 1.5% of base pay earnings
NAGMXD UnDue:NAGE,Max,FT,PT T $38.40
NAGMXA AgyFe:NAGE,Max,FT,PT T $33.90
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
John G. Sites
137 Mountain Ave
Pembroke, ma 02359
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Caroline Henriques
Public Information Requests
Office of the Comptroller
One Ashburton Place - 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-973-2618
Fax: 617-727-2163
Email: Caroline.henriques@osc.state.ma.us<mailto:Caroline.henriques@osc.state.ma.us>
<mailto:Caroline.henriques@osc.state.ma.us>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 14, 2013
Caroline Henriques
Public Information Requests
Office of the Comptroller
One Ashburton Place - 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
In Excel spreadsheet format, all FY 2011, FY 2012 and FY2013 Union Dues and agency fees deductions from State Employee Paychecks and sent to NAGE/SEIU 5000.
I'd appreciate your assistance in tailoring my request. Since these are payroll deductions I presume the data is readily extractable from payroll data. I am not sure in what form or how often the extracted dues and fees are transferred/disbursed to NAGE/SEIU 5000, but I would like to see both "ends" of the transaction, that is the payroll deductions, and the transfers/disbursements to NAGE.
I'd like it broken down and granular..... by Bargaining Unit, Dept. or Agency, and by agency fee or union dues, and by individual employee name.
Employee Name, Secretariat, Department, Position, Union (if applicable), Annual Salary, Annual Earnings.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
John G. Sites
137 Mountain Ave
Pembroke, ma 02359
From: Henriques, Caroline (OSC)
Mr. Sites below is the response we sent to your request of Sept. 3, 2013 on December 5th, 2013. Please let me know if you receive this. Thank you.
---------------------
From: john sites
Good evening Ms. Henriques, I offer these points in reply to your inquiry:
*Request for Basis of Agency Fee Payroll Deduction amounts* (your answer to
me is unresponsive because you have answered a question I never asked.)
1) You have misapprehended my request. I have NOT requested copies of
collective bargaining agreements ( I have no interest in them.)
2) I did request : "all documents and financial reports (presumably
provided by the Union) that the Commonwealth has relied upon to determine
the agency fee amounts for NAGE as set forth in the the "resource document"
for HR/CMS."
For example the Comptroller provides to payroll clerks the following
guidance on setting up NAGE Agency Fee Payroll Deductions:
* NAGMXA AgyFe:NAGE,Max,FT,PT T $33.90* (per
bi-weekly paycheck)
*Now, that $33.90 amount comes from somewhere (... it comes from the Union
that bases it on their calculation of "Chargeable vs. non-chargeable
expenses").... non chargeable expenses may be included in Union Dues, but
not so for Agency Fees. Therefore, the documents on which the Comptroller
relies in determining that Payroll Clerks should set the Agency Fee Payroll
Deduction amounts at $33.90 (or other amount)..... must have been provided
by the union and must exist! The Comptroller could not have ginned these
amounts up on their own! It is those documents which I seek. I assume,
since Comptroller manages HR/CMS and created the above referenced guidance
document, that it must be in possession of the union documents which
provide basis of the agency fee calculations, otherwise could you please
direct me to the proper custodian for those records? *
*Request for Amounts and dates of Union Dues and Agency Fees disbursed to
NAGE FY 2011,2012,2013.*
On September 3rd, 2013 I requested copies of *Records and reports which
include the Date and amount of union dues and agency fee disbursements from
the Commonwealth to the NAGE/SEIU 500*0 union during FY 2011, FY 20112, and
FY 2013.
* I DID NOT ask for the amounts and dates of payroll deductions from
individuals* (which you seem to have assumed in referring me to "open
Checkbook.)
*I have requested the amounts and dates of disbursements to the union.*....the
TOTALS disbursed, not the tiny granular amounts deducted from each and
every paycheck.... but the amounts (in the ten$ of millions by the way)
disbursed to the Union.
*So far you have told me that the Comptroller has no financial records or
reports of these huge disbursements from the Commonwealth to NAGE (and
other unions.) Frankly I find this difficult to accept, I **respectfully *
*ask that you review the matter again and see if those records of such
huge disbursements do exist somewhere. The Comptroller is the Accountant
for the Commonwealth and is charged with keeping the books in accordance
with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, I am no CPA but I have got
to assume that the Commonwealth has an obligation to account for the
deduction, collection and disbursement of ten$ of million$ of dollar$ per
year in Union dues and Agency Fees. Could you please check again to see if
these disbursement records exist, and if not at the Comptroller could you
suggest who the proper custodian of these records might Be?*
*Thanks for your attention to this matter. *
Files
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