r/WAStateWorkers

And especially to our Commerce Shop Stewards!

https://decisions.perc.wa.gov/waperc/decisions/en/item/522017/index.do

I took my current job in the pandemic, and have never worked more than 1x a month in person until recently. I live over 60 miles from the office.

My office went to mandatory 1x a week in the office recently. On top of that, I keep being asked to come in for things on my non-in-person days. For example, last week I was told to come in on a Monday for an important meeting…which was hybrid, half an hour, and over half the attendees weren’t there in person either. It took me about 4 hours round trip to commute.

I’m feeling exhausted by the unreasonable expectations. I tried to bring it up to my supervisor, and he just lectured me on needing to be willing to come in whenever there’s a business need to. My work quality has been suffering with the early mornings and loss of sleep, I’m spending like water on gas and childcare, and I’m missing important time with my spouse and kids.

I’m trying to move closer to the office, but it’s a hard time to sell a house.

I’m keeping an eye open for vacancies at other offices but honestly, this seems like a bad time to switch. I just want my job to go back to how it was before this change. I’m not union represented. Any advice for navigating this or ways to get some leeway again? I’ve thought about trying to get accommodations- I do have some challenges that could justify it, but I’m worried it’d be shooting my self in the foot career-wise.

Other advise gratefully accepted.

Hi all, Are nonrepresented employees getting a July1 increase this year?

Hello! I’ll try to keep this succinct, but I’m considering accepting a project position funded through June 2027 with potential to be extended, when I’m currently employed at an agency with permanent status.
I know it’s risky, and that makes me nervous, but my current position is difficult emotionally for several reasons that I won’t get into. The project position is at an agency I worked at previously and loved working for, but again, risky.

What things do I need to consider that I may be overlooking?
How do I verify if the position is still retirement eligible, is that something I need to worry about?

Any and all insights welcome! I’m very risk averse but don’t know how much longer I can last in my current position. Thank you all in advance!

Apparently Regence UMP won't cover surgery for a FAI, so I was wondering if anyone had had any success on getting a labrum tear or any arthroscopy on the hip done?

Hi all,

I was wondering if there was any state sponsored trainings on what public records requests are and how to deal with them? I’m not new to state employment and have not been involved in one, but it feels like information I should know.

Thanks!

Leaving state for a higher paying management position. I have probably about 60 hrs of sick and Vaca both and 1 personal leave day I've seen mixed info where I only lose sick hrs and everything else gets paid out?

Anyone hear about this? I’m on UMP Classic and glp-1 was not covered. Upon going through the process of getting an Eli Lilly Health Savings Card, I found out when picking up my prescription that Reagence BCBS will pick up 50% of the cost now. When did this happen?!

Hoping some of you can help me come up with leads,

I have been having issue after issue with my supervisor. I am at a tipping point where I need to either find a way to get another position outside of the state entirely or to find another agency/department that is actually not toxic and supportive to its employees.

I am Audhd so I am struggling with my strong sense of justice right now. Can anyone speak to good agencies I can look into? I want to find an agency with leaders who are accountable, understanding, and kind to their employees as much as possible. At minimum finding a supervisor who does not manipulate and target anyone who even slightly challenges them would be my preference. Feel free to message me or comment with ideas. I will take any advice you can share.

Im retiring July 1 and being paid through 6/30 vacation and work time. Will I accrue vacation for this last month? My last check will be 7/10 and we typically see accrual paid on the 25th check, so how will I get my annual leave pay for June. Any insight ?

Bob's fine with WA having the 2nd most regressive tax code in the U.S., but we're not, not at all. Bob said, "We cannot tax our way out of this problem." We still beg to differ, Bob!

You can call him up at 360-902-4111 and you can call up the OFM Director K.D. Chapman-See at 360-870-2588, and let them know we're not taking their fucking cuts without a fight. Bob's beholden to the billionaires, but we will continue to work on fixing our tax code next legislative session so our state is no longer in this feast or famine cycle.

Projected transportation revenue forecast is down by $166 million through 2029. The General Fund revenue forecast is supposed to come out later today.

I was applying for a job and was towards the end of the process, and got told that the process is paused now because inside people are getting laid off and need to be offered vacant spots before new people are. How much time does this typically take? Are we talking days, weeks? I don't understand why positions keep getting posted if outside the agency applicants can't get them right now.

I hope someone can help with this. I'm at DOH and bank at WSECU. I consistently get my check at least a day early. For the 7/10 paycheck I'm kind of counting on a 7/9 deposit. Has anyone experienced delays with these entities recently?

At the same time that Washington is looking down the barrel of more layoffs, Washington agencies are trialing artificial intelligence tools. Agentic AI is down the road. I can see the writing on the wall. We will layoff hundreds or thousands of employees, then the dramatic increases in productivity from AI will pick up the slack.

Things I've heard: Microsoft has met with the Governors Office and agency leadership about artificial intelligence. He likes the idea of increasing productivity, especially given tight budgets. But he doesn't seem very eager to do anything to slow down the impacts from job loss or pester the legislature to find sources of new revenue by fixing the tax system.

I'm feeling very pessimistic about the next 1-2 years.

Edit: many in this thread have used aging and poorly executed IT as an example of why we wouldn't be able to adopt AI. I think that is a poorly thought out example, since AI is especially well suited to working with technology and writing code, that is actually where it will make the most impact. I work at Ecology and I just sat in on a presentation about an AI use case where one of the developers used AI to substitute for a Business Analyst role while hiring was suspended. With a little tweaking he was able to make it work for his needs. If I was that newly hired Business Analyst I would be a little worried.

I’m being bumped. I am one of the newest employees in my agency and have a highly specialized role at least for my agency (don’t want to reveal too much so that is all that I will say) so I don’t expect that I will get a comparable option. My HR person says that if I deny an option or don’t get one, my reason for separation will say layoff, so I’ll be able to get unemployment.

Can anyone confirm if that is true? I would much rather be on unemployment and searching for new jobs than working in a random new role while searching for jobs that are actually in my specialty area. But I also have bills to pay so if I have to take a lower paying role in my agency that I’m not interested in… I guess I just do the bear minimum. Other places are hiring for my role like crazy and i do apply but state hiring takes eons plus it’s a competive role yk?

Submitted yesterday. Props to the people who gathered the stats and made the case.