Great news for state employees – thousands of market adjustments are confirmed!
State employees can now view their July 1 market adjustments in Edison. Employees in the executive branch earning $50,000 or less are about to receive salary market adjustments averaging 4.25 percent effective July 1.
“We have continued to work directly with all stakeholders to communicate the needs of our lower paid portion of our state workforce,” TSEA President Bryan Merritt said. “We want to thank Governor Haslam and his staff for including this market adjustment in his budget, and we thank the members of the General Assembly for supporting the need. This increase will help minimize some real struggles our member’s families feel, and perhaps ease some of the tough decisions that have to be made.”
The FY2016/2017 budget passed this May earmarked $36 million for market adjustments, which will be distributed to more than 25,000 state employees. In 2013 the administration implemented new compensation plans based on a salary study and began moving employees toward the midpoint of their new salary ranges. This year, the market adjustment was designed specifically to impact employees earning under $50,000.
“We continue to move forward with the approach of collaborating with the administration and each individual department, in this case the Department of Human Resources,” Executive Director Randy Stamps said. “Commissioner Rebecca Hunter was gracious enough to attend our Representative Assembly earlier this month and speak to TSEA’s board of directors about what to expect from this adjustment. We continue to see the benefits of clear communication and working with DOHR to have the best outcomes for our members.”
This market adjustment is in addition to the performance pay raises DOHR will distribute in January 2017. Several categories of employees do not take part in performance management and were not selected to receive market adjustments at this time. These include Higher Education (because Tennessee Board of Regents determines their pay increases), District Attorney’s offices, Judiciary, Wildlife Resources and Troopers, because they have their own pay structures in place.
“We are humbled to see more money in the hands of our hard-working front-line employees, our members, and hope their checkbooks feel some degree of relief,” Merritt said. “Needs always outweigh funding, but this is noticeable help for many families.”
