Captain and Battalion Chief AP appeals update

This is an update to the membership to try and get all the candidates who have appealed the Captain and Battalion Chief Appraisal of Promotability (AP) portion of the last promotional exam the latest information.  For the last 2 weeks, Local 1014 and members of the Executive Staff, as well as Denise Soto from the Exam Unit have been meeting to discuss the appeal packets.  There have been many, many rumors out there in relation to why the process has been so late in coming.  Local 1014 can tell you that contrary to the rumors, Local 1014 had NO PART in the delaying of the process.  Yes, we are very aware that promotions have continued during this process.  Local 1014 has even gone so far as to politely request to the Executive Staff a temporary postponement to the last round of promotions so that candidates who’s appeals have already been resolved can rightfully be vetted out by DHR and put in the promotable band.  This request, obviously, was not granted and as you already know, promotions went out.

So here is the latest information.  Candidates who appealed SECTION 1, 2, OR 3 ONLY have been completed and you should be getting a notification in the very near future.  If your appeal was granted, it will have your new, updated score and what Band you will be placed into.  If your appeal was not granted, you will also receive notification stating there will be no Band change.

For those Appellant’s who appealed SECTION 4 (or any combination that included Section 4) your appeals are still be worked on.  Understand, there were over 50 appeals in this process (just for Captain) and each appeal takes a substantial amount of time to go through.  It is going to take many days and weeks to go through the more than 50 appeals that we have.  Also, this is the FIRST TIME EVER that the Department has let the Appellant sit in with the reviewer and Local 1014 to discuss their appeal.  Again, this is the FIRST TIME ever that this has been done.  Trying to coordinate schedules with all the Assistant Chiefs, Local 1014, the Exam Unit, and the Appellants is not easy and that is one reason why this process is taking so long.

So to reiterate, you (the Appellant) have the right to sit in on your own appeal.  If you want to sit across from the person who graded your AP, you can.  There is no reason to call your 1014 representative and ask if that is OK.  You now have the right to do so.

Now also understand that while the appeal process is moving forward (both for the Captain and BC appeals) that many of us sit on other committees, such as EMS, Staffing, Bids and Transfers, etc. and while we try very hard to block out time to get everything done, sometimes we need to be flexible with everybody’s schedule.  I realize as an Appellant that is difficult, but understand, we want to give each and every Appellant his or her due diligence.