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Merit Appeals Board December 18, 2019
<br /> departments is, we're going to give them up to ten names at a time for each vacancy, and we can
<br /> give additional names, if needed, as the process goes.
<br /> So, we're removing that—the evaluation, the whole skillset process from the departments.
<br /> We're going to do that legwork here in-house. And then, what we'll do is we'll give them a
<br /> finished product and they can just conduct an interview based on the names we provide to them.
<br /> So, it should alleviate a lot of extra work for the departments, especially their department HR
<br /> staff. And I think we end up with a more refined process. We give the departments a finished
<br /> product, so to speak, and then they can just take it from there and do their own interview and
<br /> assessment as they deem necessary.
<br /> I think—like I said, it's been well received. We've rolled it out about a month ago. We've had
<br /> meetings with the various departmental HR people and, like I said, at those meetings we got a lot
<br /> of good, positive feedback from them. So, we'll see.
<br /> It's—the moment you think you know everything—that's the moment you start falling behind.
<br /> And so, I think it's a fluid process. We're going to get feedback. I'm sure there'll be bumps in
<br /> the roads—in the road going forward. But, I think, overall, it'll be much cleaner, be much more
<br /> transparent—and the public, I think, at the end of the day will have a better idea as to where they
<br /> stand if they're an applicant—how the process works. And I think that's, kind of, the feedback
<br /> we're hearing that more and more people want from us.
<br /> Second is the work comp. Our new manager we've brought in, Sommer Tokihiro, she's
<br /> amazing. She's working really well. She's created a great rapport with her staff She's closed
<br /> about ten percent of the cases, right now, that were—we just, through paying better attention to
<br /> detail and better case management. She identified claimants who, kind of, were forgotten. And
<br /> we're making these monthly work comp payments and the people could either come back to
<br /> work on light duty or they could come back to work at a—like a—to their work with some minor
<br /> modifications or they could come back in their full capacity. Or, in some cases, they actually
<br /> submitted for disability retirement and we're able to close the books on them.
<br /> The problem with having cases open is your—you avail yourself to any type of possibilities out
<br /> there and that's what we're, kind of, leery of it. It was almost like there's no concrete
<br /> understanding of how much it's going to cost. And we're not cutting service to anybody, but
<br /> we're just paying attention to the details—better case management. We're able to move these
<br /> issues along down the road further, so that we're better able to address them.
<br /> The other area that I emphasized with her and because of her strong—Sommer's strong
<br /> background, we are expanding our return-to-work for light duty for claimants on work comp.
<br /> And we're getting more and more of the departments buy-in with that prospect. And the
<br /> realization—and it's understandable is that when you bring somebody back for light duty, it
<br /> requires more monitoring, anyway—it requires more work from the departments.
<br /> So, in their minds, they would rather the person just stay out, more often than not, because they
<br /> don't have to deal with them. Now, the process, we pay the workers comp claims and
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