15 - Laserfiche WebLink

Medical Contributions for Active Employees: Currently active employees receive Agency-paid contributions towards medical premiums up to the lowest cost HMO family plan. Although employees are required to pay co-pays and/or deductibles, they do not contribute towards the premiums if the selected plans' premiums are less than the lowest cost HMO family plan. The proposed contract requires employees who currently make no contributions toward their medical premiums to pay $25 per month effective January 1, 2015. Retiree Health Savings Account: In the previous set of negotiations, a second tier of retiree medical benefits was negotiated for all new employees joining the LPFD after July 2012. This level of benefit covers the employee only (not spouse) and ends at age 65 when the employee is eligible for Medicare. Concurrently, a Retiree Health Savings Account (RHSA) was negotiated to assist these employees in saving for their medical expenses after retirement. The Agency contributed $75 per month on behalf of these employees and the employees were required to contribute at least $25 per month. However, this group of employees recognized the importance of saving for their future medical expenses and increased their contributions to $150 per month. An increase of $75 per month on the part of the Agency to $150 per month, to match the contributions of employees, was negotiated and starts January 2015. Other Changes: Agreements were also reached in the areas outlined below. Vacation Cashout - Similar to other groups of employees at the City, IAFF employees may now reduce their vacation balance by converting to cash up to 48 hours of vacation. This provides employees with a measure of flexibility in managing their balances and reduces the Agency's liability in the long term. Vacation Accrual Schedule - the vacation accrual schedule was modified slightly to allow the employees to receive the next level of accruals one or two years earlier. Acting Assignments - this provision allows the department to fill vacancies that occur as a result of a long-term leave of absence, with qualified IAFF employees in an acting capacity, as opposed to assigning employees on an overtime basis. In addition to being a cost-savings measure, acting assignments are valuable for staff development. CONCLUSION This report introduces the key elements of the successor MOU with the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1974 representing non-management sworn fire personnel of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department. All agreements reached between the parties during the meet and confer process are tentative until the contract, Page 4 of 5