Examiner Series Laboratory Field Services Salary Equity

1
Examiner SeriesLaboratory Field ServicesSalary
Equity

• Presented by
• Shiu-Land Kwong, Examiner II
• Laboratory Field Services
• May 19, 2006

2
OUTLINE

• Introduction
• Scope of Work of Examiners
• Examiner Salaries
• 2 Salary Comparisons - DPA LFS
• Recruitment and Retention Difficulties
• Impact
• Proposed Solutions

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Scope of Work for Examiners

• Licensure, inspection and investigation of
  laboratories, tissue banks and blood banks
• Licensure, certification and examination of lab
  personnel
• Review and approval of training programs for lab
  personnel
• Proficiency testing monitoring and enforcement

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Scope of Work cont.

• Complaint investigations and enforcement actions
• Laboratory consultation, seminars and workshops,
  legislative and regulatory activities related to
  laboratories

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A laboratory is

• Any place a laboratory test is done, such as
• Hospital labs
• Independent labs
• Physician offices
• Clinics
• Health fairs

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Laboratory Field Services (LFS)

• Regulates
• 18,700 laboratories
• 320 tissue banks
• 140 blood banks
• Licenses 23,000 lab personnel
• Certifies 10,000 phlebotomists

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Minimum Qualifications for Non-Promotional New
Hires
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LFS Professional Series

• Examiner Series
• Examiner I Journeymen entry level
• Examiner II Program Manager
• Examiner III Section Chief
• Specialized category
• Cytotechnologist - range A B

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Monthly Salary Ranges

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

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DPA/CAPS Unit 10 Survey Data January 2006

• Chemist Salary Survey (n26)
• Average minimum 4676 /mo
• Average maximum 6141 /mo
• Modified DPA/CAPS Data (n9)
• Average minimum 4847 /mo
• Average maximum 6497 /mo
• Positions comparable to Examiner I
• Laboratory Technologists
• Federal Government GS11

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Examiner Salary Comparison with DPA/CAPS Data
Only used the 9 equiv. categories from DPA/CAPS
Survey (lab tech GS11)
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LFS Salary Survey of Examiner I 2004/05
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LFS Salary Survey 2004/05 Above Examiner I
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LFS Salary Survey of Examiner II 2004/05
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LFS Salary Survey 2004/05 Above Examiner II
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Cytotechnologist

• Category added in response to the national
  cytology testing (Pap Smear) problem
• Work scope analogous to Examiner series
• May be added to Examiner series

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LFS Salary Survey of CytotechMay 2006
Average 34 lag behind private industry
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Salary Inequity for LFS

• 34 salary lag for State Scientists DPA/CAPS
  survey
• 36 salary lag for Examiners
• LFS survey
• 34 salary lag for Cytotechnologists
• LFS survey

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Problems in Examiner Retention

• Total of Examiners in 2000 44
• Total of Examiners in 2006 26
• A net loss of 18 Examiners since 2000

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What Happened to the Examiners? 2000 - 2006

• 7 retired
• 8 left for private industry
• 1 left for CDHS Office of Legal Services
• 2 left for other state services
• 2 passed away
• Since 1995, a total of 5 Examiners left for
  federal government at GS13 level.

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Problems in Examiner Recruitment

• Must meet minimum qualifications-
• BS degree, licensed, experienced supervisor
• Low compensation
• EX I 4847/mo
• EX II 5320/mo
• Cannot work concurrently at other labs conflict
  of interest restriction
• Inability to compete with private industry for
  qualified persons

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LFS Recruitment Efforts
13 hired at max. 4 left,1 retired, 1 died
within 5 yrs
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Looking for qualified persons to be Examiners?
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State Service

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Private labs, Fed Govt

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Impact on LFS Professional Staff

• Examiners leave, workload stays behind
• Examiners remaining, work out-of-class
• Severe staff shortage inability to fully
  implement/enforce state law provide oversight
  of labs and personnel
• Low morale, high stress level, unable to do a
  good job

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Impact on LFS

• Legislated new programs (added workload)
• Phlebotomy certification
• Medical technician licensure
• Registration/licensure of physician office labs
• Unmanageable backlogs in every program!

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Impact on LFS-Succession Plan

• Who will take over when examiners retire?
• In 2006, LFS has 26 examiners
• Only 4 are lt 50 yrs
• The remaining 22 are approaching or at retirement
  age
• Few examiners qualify to take up the supervisory
  baton

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Impact on Laboratories

• Existing lab operations impacted by long delays
  in licensing
• New lab has to wait for 6 to 12 months for onsite
  survey, incurring expenses without income.
• Out of state labs 1 to 2 yr wait for license

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Impact on Applicants

• 11,000 applicants cannot work pending
  licensure/certification
• 10,000 phlebotomy applicants pending approval
• 1000 scientist applicants pending approval
• Verification of license status delay

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Impact on Public

• General frustration of the public
• Complaints not investigated
• Public not protected from poor quality lab work
• Public frustrated by inability of LFS to carry
  out its mission

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Impact on Business Community

• Loss of business manufacturers unable to sell
  products to labs
• Labs prevented from operating
• Delay in Medi-Cal/Medicare reimbursement
• CA Lab work sent out of state/out of country
• Business frustrated by delays in licensing

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Salary Solutions for LFS

• Decrease the two step salary range overlap of
  Examiner I and II
• Add 1 salary differential for each year
• Beginning after 15 years of service

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Salary Solutions for LFS cont.

• Immediate monthly Recruitment and Retention bonus
  300 until full parity obtained and maintained
• Overall 34 increase
• 17 in FY 2006-7
• 17 in FY 2007-8

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Salary Equity in State Service

Thank You!