Temp agencies can’t help the DOE solve its paraprofessional shortage
The City Department of Education cannot use its inability to recruit paraprofessionals as an excuse to hire temp employees from an outside employment agency, according to the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
In a Nov. 2 decision, an Administrative Law Judge at PERB ruled that the city's Department of Education's use of a temp from RCM Healthcare Services to do the work of a paraprofessional "solely due to the unavailability of DOE employees" violated state law.
Educators at PS 1, the Courtlandt School in the South Bronx, discovered that the DOE was trying to outsource the work of paraprofessionals to fill vacancies rather than increase pay to stabilize the workforce. The UFT then filed an improper practice charge with PERB documenting the city's labor violation.
According to testimony at a series of hearings, the temp employee was assigned to a second-grade student at PS 1 as a 1:1 paraprofessional, helping the child get around the building, accompanying him to counseling and speech sessions, helping him to the bathroom, assisting with classwork and social-emotional support – usually the duties of full-time DOE paraprofessionals.
The DOE claimed that using an outside temp was necessary because of the system's legal obligation to fulfill the requirements of the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). But an Administrative Law Judge at PERB found that even in emergency situations, the law does not permit the DOE to hire outside the contract without bargaining with the UFT.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “Low wages for our paraprofessionals have left the city with thousands of vacancies every year. The positions are critical for the health and education of our most vulnerable students. As PERB has made clear, the Department of Education can’t sidestep this problem by relying on outside agencies.”
The City Council, working with the UFT, has passed a law mandating a one-time $10,000 "workforce stabilization payment" to each paraprofessional, who start at $32,000 a year. The city has filed a lawsuit to stop the law from taking effect.
"We won't allow the DOE to try to do an end run around our members receiving the fair pay they deserve," said Priscilla Castro, Chair of the UFT Paraprofessional Chapter.