NAPE/AFSCME member Mari Waid, a Social Services Worker in Scottsbluff, recently won her grievance challenging her less-than-satisfactory performance evaluation.
Mari received a score of 2.97 on her 2023 performance evaluation. A grievance was promptly filed on her behalf. NAPE argued that the Department of Health and Human Services violated our labor contract because her 2023 goals were not in SMART goal format, and she did not receive feedback on the areas of her performance that were allegedly lacking.
Additionally, a new personnel management system, Workday, changed the rounding of overall scores from the nearest tenth to the nearest hundredth of a point. Mari’s 2.97 score, which should have rounded to 3.0, was rounded to 2.0, making her satisfactory evaluation an unsatisfactory evaluation. Our union was not made aware of this change prior to its implementation. Because of the new rounding system, Mari was not eligible for the performance based step increase that went into effect on July 1, 2024.
“I reached out to my representative right after I received my score because I felt that something was wrong and knew I had a limited amount of time to challenge my score,” Mari said.
NAPE prevailed and Mari will receive her step pay increase retroactively to July 1.
“I want my fellow NAPE members to know that as soon as you get your evaluation next year, look at it right away and if something doesn’t seem right, contact your union representative,” she said. “Don’t hesitate. You only have so much time to file a grievance if there’s a contract violation.”
