Counselor wants supes to restore job status

A popular counselor in the county's Kids Alcohol/Drug Alternative Program wants the county Board of Supervisors to restore his seniority status with the county.

The question for the board is whether Paul Ramirez, the KADAP counselor, continuously worked for the county or did his three-year break as a case manager for the superior court, end his seniority?

Tuesday, supervisors wrestled with the question before deciding to postpone their decision until Oct. 19.

Ramirez started working for the county's Office of Substance Abuse in 1994, said Michelle Blau, field representative for Service Employees International Union Local 790. In 2001, then-Judge Irene McIlwrath, asked that Ramirez be transferred over to the superior court's drug case management program.

When McIlwrath retired last year, Ramirez's job with the drug court ended and he transferred to OSA's prevention program, Blau said.

Supervisor Dario Marenco said the fact that he was a drug case manager for the courts was a technicality that shouldn't change Ramirez's seniority status.

"He was still a drug counselor," Marenco said. "It wasn't his decision; it was a judge's request."

But Human Resources Director Don Turko said the union's request to reinstate Ramirez's seniority runs counter to a 2001 memorandum of understanding between the county and union.

Because Ramirez wasn't working for the county's OSA, he wasn't included in the 2001 agreement on seniority status, Turko said.

And while Ramirez is now working for the county's OSA in a probationary civil service position, that didn't happen until January, Turko said.

Turko said if the board approved the union's request on Ramirez's seniority, the union could come back later and do it for other employees. The other problem is that reinstating Ramirez's seniority would affect at least 20 people on the seniority list by bumping them down, Turko said.

Blau said placement on the seniority list is important to county employees.

"It's how layoffs are determined," she said after the meeting. "It's the only determining factor."

Blau said that during Ramirez's tenure with the court's drug program, things such as vacation, retirement, even benefits were coming from the county. That's one reason Ramirez never thought he wasn't an employee of the county.

In fact, during his transfer from the court to OSA's prevention program, Ramirez simply transferred over, Blau said.

"He didn't have to apply," she said. "He just called the coordinator."

Blau asked, if Ramirez was an employee of the court, why was he able to transfer to OSA's prevention by making a phone call.

Ramirez is the counselor whose job was spared at the last minute earlier this year when supervisors voted not to cut jobs at OSA. His plight was cause for children and parents to plead to the board of supervisors to save Ramirez's job.

Although Supervisor Victor Mow said Ramirez was caught in a glitch, he wondered why the union didn't raise a ruckus when the issue was originally raised by the county.

Blau said SEIU Local 790 was assured Ramirez would be included in each previous seniority list.

Ramirez didn't have any reason not to believe OSA's management that he wouldn't be included, Blau said.

It was only during the last round of layoffs that Ramirez found out he didn't have seniority, she said. Even as late as this spring, Ramirez had received notice from the county that he had 20,000 hours in seniority, Blau said after the meeting.