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State Employment: Number & Characteristics | State Civil Service | Determining Compensation | Collective Bargaining/PELRA | Ethics/Conflict of Interest

Process for Determining State Employee Compensation

The legislature establishes salary maximums for executive agency heads. It also approves specific salaries that the governor recommends within these statutory maximums. See also State Agency Head Salaries for a description of the process for establishing salaries for heads of state executive branch agencies and listing salaries.

Compensation and other terms and conditions of employment for state employees generally are not prescribed in statute.

Compensation and terms and conditions of employment are determined by collective bargaining for most state employees, and by special compensation plan for employees who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

• About 90 percent of executive branch employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements negotiated between their union and the state.
• The Commissioner of Employee Relations proposes compensation plans for employees who are not unionized.  One plan covers only state agency managers, and another covers most other non-unionized executive branch employees.  These plans are similar in coverage to collective bargaining agreements. Like collective bargaining agreements, the plans are subject to legislative approval.
• Statute provides for special compensation plans to cover certain groups of employees, such as employees of constitutional officers, administrative law judges, and certain administrative personnel in the higher education systems.

October 2008