Competitive Wage Policy

Whereas, Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) employs people directly on a full-time and part-time basis, including some part-time, “temporary” employees known as pages;

Whereas, CALS has a limited amount of taxpayer resources to expend and is entrusted to use these resources wisely;

Whereas, CALS has sought to pay a living wage to all regular part-time and full-time employees but has not always been able to make adjustments annually because of limited resources;

Whereas, according to a 2017 classification, compensation, and benefits study of CALS by the Johanson Group, the mean pay in several employee groups at CALS was found to be behind the mean pay at comparable institutions;

Whereas, pay that is not competitive with the market fosters high turnover among employees, which increases recruitment, training, and supervisory costs to CALS;

Whereas, providing competitive pay for all employees, is an essential step in attracting and retaining the highest quality employees to deliver the highest quality services;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Directors of CALS does hereby seek to move toward a more competitive classification, compensation, and benefits schedule that includes the following elements:

1. Beginning with the first workday of January 2018, all CALS employees will be paid at a rate within each position’s appropriate pay grade as adopted by the Board upon the Johanson Group’s recommendation at the September 28, 2017 board meeting.

2. Beginning April 1, 2019, all regular CALS employees working at least thirty (30) hours per week will be eligible for medical benefits. All regular CALS employees hired before April 1, 2019 and working at least twenty (20) hours per week who receive medical benefits through CALS will remain eligible for medical benefits. Full-time employees who reduce to twenty (20) hours per week will not be eligible for medical benefits. In no case shall the contributions of CALS towards the provision of health benefits for its covered employees be less than 80% of the total cost of the health premiums.

3. CALS will pay 50% of the premiums for any dependent coverage sought by these covered employees

4. All regular CALS employees working at least forty (40) hours per week will be eligible for retirement benefits that CALS will fund at not less than 8% of gross salary.

5. All regular CALS employees working at least twenty (20) hours per week will be eligible for an additional pension match from CALS of up to 2% of gross salary if the employee contributes to the retirement plan.

6. CALS will institute efforts to reduce the number of Pages employed by the system by reclassifying most Page positions to a newly designated Clerk status, a regular position that is subject to the compensation and benefit schedule outlined above. Remaining Page positions will no longer be considered temporary.

This Competitive Wage Policy was adopted by the CALS Board of Directors and may be rescinded by the Board at any time and for any reason.

Policy Information

Board Policy #110
Board Approval: 12/06/01 (Adopted), 10/26/17
Revision: 01/24/02, 09/28/17, 07/25/19
Director’s Recommendation: 12/06/01, 09/28/17
Legal Advice: 12/07/01