Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. HUMAN RESOURCES & DATA PRACTICES <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />3 Human Resources <br />4 <br />5 Issue: Many state laws increase the cost of providing city services to residents by <br />6 requiring city governments to provide certain levels of compensation or benefits to public <br />7 employees, by specifying certain working conditions, or by limiting city governments' ability to <br />8 effectively manage their personnel resources. For instance, existing state laws limit <br />9 governments' ability to effectively address incompetence or misconduct of city employees <br />10 specifying certain procedures to be followed or standards of conduct. Several laws are potentially <br />11 contradictory and force local governments to choose which one to follow. <br />12 <br />13 Response: The state must refrain from passing laws that regulate the public sector <br />14 workplace, and must repeal or modify problematic existing laws and regulations to <br />15 encourage full local accountability. <br />16 <br />17 The League proposes the following initiatives and reforms: <br />18 <br />19 HR-}. Preservation of Local Decision-making Authority on Employment <br />20 Related Issues <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />23 <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />38 <br />.39 <br />40 <br />41 <br />It <br /> <br />44 <br /> <br />The League supports local decision-making authority and opposes legislation intended to <br />interfere in local decisions. <br /> <br />HR-2. Veterans' Preference <br /> <br />· Minnesota's veterans' preference protections were created at the turn of the 19th Century. <br />These protections were designed to assist veteran employees at a time when Minnesota's and <br />the federal government's labor and personnel laws were in their infancy. The Legislature <br />must conduct a study of Minnesota's veterans' preference law to determine its effectiveness <br />and efficiency in light of today's employment laws, statutes, and regulations. It is likely that <br />the Legislature will find parts of the law need modernization. <br /> <br />HR-3. Compensation Limits <br /> <br />· The Legislature must acknowledge that all state and local governments, not just school <br />districts, must be competitive in recruiting and retaining upper level management employees. <br />In addition, there is no correlation between the compensation of citizen volunteers and career <br />public sector professionals. Additionally, a state-imposed salary cap on local government <br />employees undermines marketability of a community during competitive national recruiting <br />efforts and undermines local authority. Therefore, the state must repeal or modify laws <br />limiting the compensation of a person employed by a statutory or home rule charter city to <br />the governor's salary. Local elected officials should determine compensation for their <br />appoinled officials. <br /> <br />35 <br />