Welcome to the September Q&A!
This is our first monthly installment addressing questions and suggestions received through the online suggestion box. The suggestion/comment site was created in direct response to requests received by the management team from staff as a mechanism to improve communication and receive more insights into the thoughts of the CPCS staff community.
We responded to questions based on whether they were relevant to the larger CPCS audience (i.e., individual-specific questions we did not answer. For individual questions/issues, we ask you to speak with your manager) and where they did not violate the Agency’s responsibility to protect confidentiality or other personnel matters.
As part of this process, some questions/suggestions were summarized or simplified in the interest of clarity, brevity or to address issues of tone. When we received multiple versions of the same question, we selected the one most representative of the question or suggestion. Due to time and space considerations, some received questions may be answered in future Q&As.
With that, here is the Q&A!
Suggestion/Question: Raises?
Why, if our agency was given more money in the budget for raises, haven’t we heard anything about them yet? It has been a month since the fiscal year budget came out. There needs to be clearer and more timely communication about compensation.
Response:
An email update on the salary process was sent on September 3rd, but this was after this question was asked. The content of that message is below. I agree on ensuring more clear and timely communication, and this is something we (as a management team) are working on in general to improve.
We are currently working on getting the salary recommendations finalized and ready for Committee review (budget language requires Committee review and Legislative notification), so we can announce specifics in November for January implementation.
Previous email:
As reported back when the Governor originally signed the legislation into law, the budget for CPCS includes funding for us to be able to provide meaningful salary relief to our staff.
As reported back when the Governor originally signed the legislation into law, the budget for CPCS includes funding for us to be able to provide meaningful salary relief to our staff.
It means meaningful salary relief is coming, it is real and it will happen across the agency with an implementation date of early January 2016. We are currently in the process of working diligently on a salary plan and as soon as it is finalized, more information will be provided. These raises will touch all staff (legal and non-) and all years of tenure. I completely understand the desire to know as much as possible as soon as possible and I assure you that we will pass on the information as soon as it is finalized.
CPCS has a total of four accounts (line items) in the state budget, with two of those accounts specifically to fund CPCS staff. The first is line item 0321-1504, the account to cover the costs of “case-taking” attorneys (includes our attorneys-in-charge). We were specifically provided $1.5 million dollars to put towards salary increases that can be put into effect no earlier than until January 1, 2016. This translates into a total of $3.0 million over the course of a full fiscal year.
The second line item we have for CPCS staff is 0321-1500. This line item provides funding for attorneys who generally do not take cases, as well as all of our other professionals on staff. (This line item also provides all funding for all non-personnel expenditures, examples of which are rental of office space, technology spending and training costs.) Although the Legislature did not include any specific funding or language for salary increases in this line item, we are committed to providing substantial salary relief to all of our staff who are paid out of this line item as well. (Reminder: the line item language does require once again that the Committee approve by majority vote any salary increase for employees holding management positions.)
Although I am extremely pleased that the Legislature recognized our critical need for meaningful salary increases, I also recognize that our advocacy must and will continue on the salary issue not only for all staff but also for our private counsel partners.
Division: Chief Counsel – Anthony Benedetti
Suggestion/Questions: Anthony visiting offices
Can Anthony come out and visit trail lawyers and non-trial staff outside of Boston on a regular basis? Staff would like more of an opportunity to meet management leadership, hear their thoughts and express their own.
Response:
I have clearly heard that CPCS staff want more face time with me and other management staff. Starting this Winter, probably December, to give people plenty of advance notice, I will travel to the different regions of the state to meet and talk to staff. Please stay tuned for more details.
Division: Chief Counsel – Anthony Benedetti
Suggestion/Question: Cross divisional training
There is a lack of knowledge within each CPCS division about what the other divisions do, which means that people are not aware of the wealth of resources we have in our CPCS colleagues. My suggestion is that each unit’s training includes brief presentations from the other practice areas explaining the work of each practice area and providing examples of how attorneys might use the resources of other CPCS units to better represent our clients.
Response:
Thank you for your suggestion. We have provided some cross divisional training but we should do more. In the last year or so Nancy Baratta, CAFL Managing Director, and Karen Owen Talley, MHLD Assistant Director, have each given several presentations about their practice areas for interested staff in other divisions. However, we have not institutionalized the practice. I will include this topic on the agenda of our next Training Director meeting.
Division: Training – Debra Krupp
Suggestion/Questions: Fax from PC through printer.
It would be nice to have a program on our computer that would allow us to send a fax (with a fax cover sheet and necessary documents attached) so we don’t have to print out each fax cover sheet, print out the document and then go to the fax machine to send them. And receive a confirmation e-mail back instead of a confirmation page on paper.
Response:
If you have one of the new Xerox printer/copier/fax in your office, you can send a fax through that machine, with a cover letter. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell you won’t get an email confirmation. However, you will have a popup box which will tell you if the fax failed or not. It will also print a confirmation at the fax machine. I’ve created a blog post with instructions. You can find the post on our intranet here.
Division: IT – Daniel Saroff
Suggestion/Questions: Anonymity of the suggestion box
This seems like a great idea. Thank you for getting it going. However, a few people have already expressed to me a reluctance to use the “anonymous suggestion/comment box” because they doubt that one’s anonymity can reliably be guaranteed just by leaving out one’s e-mail address. These concerns are not surprising, given the ubiquitous warnings we hear about how the Internet and electronic communication have destroyed privacy, how nothing on a computer can ever really be erased, and so on.
All of this is to suggest that the utility of the suggestion box might be enhanced if it is possible to expand upon what “anonymous” really means in this context.
Response:
As a person who takes a drill to my hard drive whenever I dispose of an old PC (or a sledge hammer if I am working out some frustrations), I take the protection of sensitive data very seriously. It is true, to an extent, that almost any electronic data can be discovered if one has the right tools, skills and tries hard enough.
With that being said, it’s as truly anonymous as anything can be. We intentionally picked a tool that was a form (and thus didn’t require an email address or any identifying IP address). We tested the anonymity with the tool. We don’t have any monitoring on the form. Also, there is a big difference between what happens on the internet (external web) and our internal web site regarding anonymity. The internet is structured to monetize your interactions, which means advertisers, Google, etc. track your movement across web sites (both mobile and on your PC), because that’s how they make money. We don’t do that. It’s not in our interest from a mission, time, cost or effort perspective. And, frankly, it’s not what I want to do from my perspective as the head of IT.
Hope this helped address the concerns you raised.
Division: IT – Daniel Saroff
Suggestion/Questions: Committee meeting minutes
While I appreciate the agenda of committee meetings being published I would greatly appreciate if the minutes from all committee meetings were sent out soon after the meeting in an email. Many of us are unable to attend the meetings but would greatly like to be kept informed.
Response:
Good idea. Effective the September 2015 Committee meeting, we will post the meeting minutes on the intranet. Minutes have to be approved by the Committee before being posted, so, for example, the September minutes would have to be approved in the October meeting before we can post. So, there would be roughly a one-month delay between the Committee meeting and posting its minutes. We will also post Committee agendas to this site.
We will create a link at the top of the intranet (next to the “Suggestion Box” link), which will link to the repository. This link should be created by the end of September or beginning of October. We will also upload past minutes and agendas for previous meetings before the creation of this repository.
Division: General Counsel – Lisa Hewitt
Suggestion/Questions: Concern about prisoners producing CPCS business cards
I have learned that our business cards are being made by MASSCOR at Old Colony. If I am wrong, then please ignore this comment! I am very uncomfortable with our agency benefiting from what is the virtually unpaid (even if voluntary, in the sense that it provides an activity) labor of our clients. I don’t mean to be melodramatic – it appears that many Massachusetts agencies are having their cards made by prisoners and I assume CPCS didn’t make this choice. Nevertheless, it is upsetting and, I believe, inappropriate.
Response:
A very good question was submitted asking whether CPCS is now using MassCor to produce our business cards. The writer raised concern over our agency benefitting from inmates, some of which may be our clients, producing a product for us at such low pay and that it was inappropriate. The answer is CPCS did recently contract with MassCor to produce our business cards. This decision was made after carefully considering the many issues raised by using MassCor and inmate labor, including those raised by the writer. It is true that the wages paid inmates are minimal, amounting to only a few dollars a week. However, it was also determined that MassCor provides voluntary work-related experience that translates into real employment opportunities for released inmates, that includes more than just business cards, but also binders, Braille transcription, clothing, decals, embroidery, eyeglasses, flags, furniture and furniture repair, letterhead, license plates, metal products, pillows, printing, sheets, pillow cases, signs, silk screening, towels, mattresses and box springs, and wastebaskets. These products are sold primarily to state and local government entities and are also available for sale to private entities.
There is an inmate wait list to work within MassCor (which is separate and apart from varied prison industries programs within various state institutions). In addition, employment by MassCor does provide an inmate with the opportunity to earn good time. Additionally, MassCor customer service and cost is better than the previous provider. In the end, it was decided that the positive aspects of MassCor that may directly benefit inmates, including our clients, and the agency outweighed the well-grounded concerns expressed by the writer.
It is important to note on the issue of such low pay that in 2010, the sheriff of Bristol County attempted to change DOC regulations to prevent any payment and award seven days good time (as opposed to 2.5 days per month, see G.L. c. 127, sec. 129 et al., and 103 CMR 411 et al). There reportedly was a successful and strong objection by Bristol County inmates and advocates to maintain the pay element as a useful and helpful incentive for inmates, especially those doing longer terms of incarceration. In addition, there exists an extensive source of literature on inmate work programs where the commentators disagree on some of the very issues raised by the writer. In a 2014 position paper published by Northwestern Law School’s Prison Reentry Strategies program, based on the data collected and analyzed, it was concluded that inmates benefited from real work experience and vocational opportunities rather than the prison industry model existing in most states. It is not a simple issue as the literature makes clear and the writer’s concerns are both legitimate and were considered in the ultimate decision to contract with MassCor.
Division: Public Defenders – Larry Tipton
Suggestion/Questions: New Yorker article on managing Millennials
HR posted a New Yorker article on the CPCS website purporting to help AICs handle young attorneys. In a section of the article, young people (“millennials”) were stereotyped as selfish, lazy, entitled, spoiled, pompous, overconfident, and disrespectful of elders? Why was this posted?
Response:
HR analyzes employment trends that may impact employee retention and attrition. Multi-generational issues greatly impact our workplace and we need to provide more information to promote understanding and respect for generational differences. HR does not agree with the content of this article that disrespected “Millennials”. We thought the overall article was helpful, but missed these references in initially reviewing the article. When HR was notified of the generalizations, the article was immediately removed as inappropriate.
Division: Human Resources – Donna Leete
Suggestion/Questions: Managers taking cases
Why don’t managers take cases or offer to second seat trial lawyers so that they’d have some credibility with staff when they make management decisions that affect public defenders’ trial practice and clients?
Response:
We think it is a good idea, and we have and continue to discuss and consider it as a real possibility that if implemented thoughtfully, may result in benefits to both our clients and our agency as a whole. We do see some significant challenges putting it into operations. Current experience tells us that managers at a level above Attorneys-in-Charge generally do not have time to take cases. For example, in the Public Defender Division, there are three Managing Directors each of whom is responsible for overseeing the operations of approximately eight offices. Additionally, they are also responsible for assisting the Deputy Chief Counsel in managing the entire division, are often traveling to Boston and within their regions, serve as hiring managers for regional position vacancies, and investigate and recommend resolution of client, peer and other complaints.
The simple truth we wrestle with is that if senior managers took cases, there would be times when they were engaged in trials or pretrial hearings when they would have to put aside their management responsibilities. This split could have a negative impact on both clients and their management tasks.
Division: Public Defenders – Randy Gioia and Larry Tipton
Suggestion/Questions: Monthly planners/calendars
We just received our new 2016 calendar options. I’ve been working here for several years and have always had a portable (non-desk/wall) monthly view calendar. There were no options this time. Can we get a portable monthly calendar option? WB Mason has H0D26202.
Response:
Yes. We’ve added that item to the catalog. Your AA should be able to order them through the WB Mason catalog now. If an employee has a particular product that they’d prefer, and it is not listed, they can always ask that it be added to the approved catalog by contacting me directly.
Division: Finance / Procurement – Susan Kreusch