1. Union Comments on
DAS Office Worker
Classification Study
November 12, 2010

2. REVIEW OF PROCESS
 BACKGROUND
 Beginning in 2006, SEIU began Office Workers
Campaign to win selective salary increases for
office workers.
 2007-09 contract DAS agreed to provide SEIU
with notice of when they would do a class study
 2009-11 contract, SEIU won agreement that
study would be competed in time for 2011-13
bargaining.

3. Who’s included?
 Student Office Worker
 Office Assistant 1-2
 Office Specialist 1-2
 Administrative Specialist 1-2
 Legal Secretary
 Executive Support Specialist 1-2
 Public Service Representative 1-4
 Data Entry Operator
 Word Processing Technician 1-3
 Office Coordinator
 Executive Assistant
 Data Entry Control Tech

4. Classification Study
 DAS reviews job classifications to
determine whether current classification
system needs to be updated and/or
revised.
 Based on their review they may delete, add
or revise classifications

5. REVIEW AND COMMENT
PROCESS
 Regional meetings and rural webinar to
review process—August 2010
 Draft class specs and cover memo received
from DAS—9/10/2010
 SEIU questionnaire and link to draft class
specs posted to SEIU website—September
2010

6. Work Group Meetings to Review
Draft Class Specs and Member Input
 Work Group 1—Office Assistant, Office Specialist
1-2, Student Office Worker, Word Processing
Tech 1-3, Data Entry Operator, Data Entry Control
Tech—10/23/2010
 Work Group 2—Admin Spec 1-2, Exec Support
Spec 1-2, Legal Secretary, Office Coordinator—
10/18/2010
 Work Group 3—Public Service Representative 1-
4—10/19/2010

7. Draft Comments
 Draft comments developed by SEIU research department
based on work of work group meetings
 Draft comments E-mailed to work group members-11/5/2010
 Conference call to review draft comments—11/9/2010
 Draft comments revised as needed based on input from
conference call
 Presentation of draft comments to SEIU DAS bargaining
team—11/10/2010
 Submission of Union comments to DAS—11/12/2010

8. GENERAL COMMENTS—ALL
COVERED CLASSIFICATIONS
 Sampling Method
 Allocation Guide
 “Administrative Superior”
 Dangerous or adverse conditions

9. Sampling Method
 Sampling method is inadequate
 Looks only at 10% of positions within each
agency
 90% of positions not considered
 Clerical positions are too diverse to
adequately capture with only 10% of
positions

10. Allocation Guide
 Union recommends developing an allocation guide similar to
what has been used for other classification groups such as
Program Analyst and Operations and Policy Analyst
 More information explaining distinguishing features within and
among classification series
 Classification specifications are written in very general terms
 Need specific examples from a wide range of agencies to
understand intended meaning of general terms
 Greater clarity for agencies, employees
 Aid to employees and agencies in determining whether
positions are correctly classified
 Reduce likelihood of positions being improperly classified

11. “Administrative Superior”
 Draft class specs for Executive Support
Specialist replace “administrative superior”
with “supervisor”
 Recommend making the same change for
other classifications using this term, e.g.,
Administrative Specialist 2

12. Dangerous or hazardous conditions
 Add reference in all clerical/technical class
specs that certain positions in the
classifications may have to deal with
dangerous or hazardous conditions on a
regular basis
 Examples—Oregon State Hospital and
Oregon Youth Authority

13. WORK GROUP 1: OFFICE
ASSISTANT/OFFICE SPECIALIST AND
RELATED CLASSIFICATIONS
 General Comments
 New Format for OA/OS 1-2 Series omits several
sections from current class specs
 Relationship with others
 Supervision received
 Knowledge, skills, and abilities
 Deleted information is helpful in correctly
classifying positions
 Recommend retaining current format

14. Office Assistant
 “Simple Repetitive Tasks”
 DAS recommends combining OA 1 and OA 2 into one class, Office
Assistant
 OA 1 is rarely used
 Draft Office Assistant class spec combines wording from OA 1 and OA 2
 Example: Reference to “simple, repetitive assignments
 Phrase comes from current OA 1 class spec
 Since OA 1 is not being used new spec should track current OA 2, rather
than combining OA 1 and OA 2.
 Basic knowledge of agency operations
 Independent judgment
 Draft spec says OAs have “few opportunities to exercise independent
judgment
 Recommend referring to “opportunity to learn to use independent
judgment”

15. Office Specialist 1
 Exercise of initiative and judgment
 Recommend retaining language from current
class specs about “exercise of initiative and
judgment in distinguishing among variables and
identifying applicable standards

16. Office Specialist 2
 Administrative/technical duties
 Recommend retaining reference to “technical or minor
administrative-related duties” under “Series Concept”
section of class spec
 “Moderately difficult work”
 Recommend replacing the term “moderately difficult work”
with more concrete, less subjective term
 Specialized program information
 Draft class refers to “general understanding of specialized
program information”
 Recommend deleting “general”

17. OS Duties not captured in Class Specs
 Examples of duties cited in questionnaire responses which
are not captured in draft OS class specs
 Conduct criminal background checks
 Perform initial intake appointments with clients to assist them in
applying for services
 Compile information needed to determine eligibility decisions
 Keep records of cash, check and credit card transactions for
auditing purposes
 Maintain office procedure manual and update as needed
 Train and advise new staff in processes, procedures, and job
duties
 Database maintenance

18. Office Coordinator Positions
 Recommend retaining OC classification
 Study recommends eliminating the Office
Coordinator classification
 DAS memo states that “class performs same
type and level of work as OS 2”
 Union recommends retention of OC class
 Fundamentally different from OS 2 class
 Features of OC positions which distinguish them
from OS 2 still apply

19. OC class spec needs to be revised and
updated
 Include reference to various additional
duties currently not reflected
 Delete outdated language, e.g., references
to OUS
 Revise draft OS class spec to delete new
references to Office Coordinator positions

20. Word Processing Tech 1-3/Legal
Secretary
 DAS proposes eliminating WPT series
 Work environment has changed significantly
 WP duties found in all levels of clerical/technical work
 Dedicated series no longer necessary
 Union response
 Agree with eliminating series
 Some positions should be reclassified to Legal
Secretaries
 Also recommend replacing Legal Secretary with LS 1 and
LS 2

21. Other Work Group 1 Classifications
 Student Office Worker
 Data Entry Operator
 Data Entry Control Tech
 -No substantive changes or employee
comments on any of the above classes

22. WORK GROUP 2: ADMINISTRATIVE
SPECIALIST SERIES AND RELATED
CLASSIFICATIONS
Administrative Specialist 1-2
Executive Support Specialist 1-2

23. Administrative Specialist 1-2
 “Interpret” vs. “Analyze”
 DAS draft class spec replaces “interpret” with
words used to define “interpret”
 Stated intent is to avoid confusion around the
meaning of the term “interpret”
 Comments recommend retaining “interpret” but
including the definition of interpret.
 Appropriate issue for discussion and explanation
in an Allocation Guide

24. Administrative Specialist 1-2 (Continued)
 Information Technology duties
 Questionnaire responses and work group discussions
indicate that many AS positions are performing Info Tech
duties such as database and website maintenance.
 Employees/positions whose primary duties are IT-related
should be reclassified into ISS series
 Employees for whom IT duties are important but not
primary duty might be retained in AS series
 Class specs should be revised to reflect some degree of
IT duties
 Hay pointing of clerical/technical classifications should
take IT duties and responsibilities into account

25. Administrative Specialist 1-2 (Continued)
 Additional Duties and Responsibilities not
Captured in Draft Specs
 Confidentiality
 Training
 Issuing Permits
 Acting as liaison between agencies and the
public or the legislature
 Payroll-related duties

26. Executive Support Specialist 1-2
 “ Confidential” Secretarial Support
 Current class spec refers to confidential
secretarial support
 Draft class spec eliminates the word
“confidential”
 Preserving confidentiality is an important part of
these positions so the word should be retained

27. WORK GROUP 3—PUBLIC
SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE 1-4
 “Interpret” vs. Analyze”
 As with AS 1-2, DAS draft specs replace “interpret” with
“analyze”
 Replacement wording is not consistent with AS draft
 Recommend retaining “interpret,” use wording consistent
with recommendations for AS class spec
 Use Allocation Guide to clarify and explain intended
meaning of the word “interpret”

28. NEXT STEPS
 Submission of final Union comments to DAS—11/12/2010
 DAS considers Union comments; makes changes as it sees fit
 DAS Central Evaluation Team meets to assign Hay Points to
new/revised classifications
 DAS Compensation Unit conducts market study to determine
market rates for comparable classifications for private and public
sector employers in the appropriate labor market.
 Preliminary allocation of positions to new/revised classifications
 Negotiation of salary ranges to occur during 2011 bargaining
 Implementation of new/revised classifications—Probable date—
10/1/2011
 Final allocation of positions to new/revised classifications
 Opportunity for employees to contest agency allocation decisions
through Article 81 appeals process