STATE OF LOUISIANA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

General Circular No. 001622

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: KATRINA – Flexible Special Pay for Classified Positions for Work Related to Hurricane Katrina

Issue Date: September 16, 2005

The Civil Service Commission at its September 14, 2005 meeting authorized flexible Special Pay per Rule 6.16(a) in any amount up to a maximum of $15.00/hour for any classified position for work related to the Hurricane Katrina disaster effective August 26, 2005 to February 28, 2006. Agencies are not required to make any payments under this authority. Use of this flexibility is at the discretion of the agency. Any payments that may need to be continued beyond February 28, 2006, must receive Commission approval prior to February 28, 2006.

Civil Service Rule 6.16(a) states that “In order to remain competitive with the pay practices of market competitors, the Commission may authorize special pay for positions in a job where employment conditions are unusual. Additional pay may be authorized for an employee who performs extraordinary duty that is not an integral part of his regularly assigned duties. Such additional pay shall not be considered as part of the employee’s base pay.” Agencies may make payments to employees who are required to perform hazardous duties, extra duties, and/or work in unusual situations or locations.

All payments made under this authority must be related to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. We encourage agencies to use this Special Pay authority for hours worked only. However, if you have a rational business reason, you may use it for all hours (i.e., you may give it to employees who are on sick or annual leave and they were receiving such pay before the leave began). You may want to refer to Robert Boland’s HR Newsletter on Rational Basis and Layoff Exceptions found on our website in the HR Reference Section.

This Katrina Special Pay may not be used for employees who are on Special Leave and not working.

Agencies will be required to submit a report to the Commission of all actions taken under this authority for all jobs and/or positions including the amount paid, the dates that the payment was effective, and the reason for the payments. The Compensation Division must receive all reports by March 1, 2006, at the latest.

I strongly urge that agencies be judicious in the use of this flexibility in these extraordinary times. Although it is not required that you have a policy to use the Katrina Special Pay, it might be helpful to develop some sort of internal policy or statement of usage for this pay. A policy could also help facilitate communication between agencies as to the types and amounts of special pay granted for their employees. Communication between agencies will help to diminish cases where employees working side by side and doing the same duties are paid different amounts. The State Human Resource Managers Association (SHRMA) has graciously offered to post communications from agencies that concern payments made under this authority that are of interest to other agencies. Members of SHRMA will receive information concerning this posting. If you are a Human Resources employee and you are not a member of SHRMA and you would like to either have information posted or if you would like to find out what is posted, please call Debbie Landry at 225-342-8083.

Special Pay for reasons not related to Hurricane Katrina must receive prior Commission approval as normal.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is any way that we can help you. If you have any concerns about the legality of payments made under this authority, you may call Robert Boland at 225-342-8272. Other calls concerning this Special Pay may be directed to the Compensation Division at 225-342-8083.

Sincerely,

s/Anne S. Soileau

Acting Director