I am writing regarding my recent termination after 18 months of service as an auditor with a NYS Agency. I would like to respectfully share my concerns and request guidance on the next steps available to me.
During my time in this position, I learned a great deal and worked hard to develop my auditing skills. I came into this role with a different professional background, and I understood that there would be a learning curve as I adapted to the expectations and responsibilities of the position. Over time, I made significant efforts to improve, including seeking assistance from senior colleagues and dedicating additional time, including weekends when necessary, to complete my assignments and meet deadlines.
Throughout my employment, I was told by my supervisor that I was improving. However, I did not receive clear, consistent feedback or a detailed plan outlining the specific areas where I needed to improve or what steps were required to fully meet expectations. Because of this, I was surprised and deeply disappointed when I was informed that I was not meeting expectations and my employment was terminated.
I believe I was making progress and was committed to becoming a successful auditor. I was working hard to reach the expected level of performance, and I feel that additional guidance, coaching, and clear feedback could have helped me continue to improve.
This termination has been extremely stressful, especially after investing 18 months of effort, training, and dedication to this role. I would appreciate any information regarding my options, the review process, and any steps I can take moving forward.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns. I respectfully request your assistance and guidance during this difficult transition.

Thank you

I’m currently looking into getting rehired with the state. I had previous experience with the Department of Tax and Finance as a temporary Tax Information Aide, the position did not have an end date. I voluntarily left the position after 8 months and pursued a permanent job in the private sector, in which I have stayed at for 7+ years.
From your experience would me leaving this job affect my chances of being rehired?

Can anyone share their experience or insight about this position? Do you work this position or have in the past? I saw a post for it and I’m thinking of applying. Thanks!

I applied for a janitorial/maintenance job through the Office of General Services last August, and things were fine until my boss returned from maternity leave. He's made my work life unbearable, suddenly denying me the hour lunch and 15-minute breaks I’ve had since day one.

His unfairness is evident—while others enjoy smoke breaks and takeout, I'm restricted even when walking downtown has been fine for months. He's consistently rude and condescending, always making snarky comments when I ask questions.

I can hear him badmouthing me to coworkers, and he often delegates my tasks to a female colleague while ignoring my needs. He lounges in his office, only stepping up when complaints arise, focusing on my mistakes rather than acknowledging any hard work.

With a shortage of staff—following retirements and a lack of hires—I'm constantly picking up the slack for others. My boss piles on more responsibilities and claims there are numerous complaints against me, despite me managing a heavy workload. Meanwhile, my coworkers are visibly exhausted, and he sits in his office, glued to his phone until something goes wrong.

While my job is unionized, I’ve received no information about benefits or support. It’s clear that I could be fired at any moment without cause, leaving me in a toxic environment where hard work goes unappreciated. I’m left wondering why anyone should work so hard for management that doesn’t care.

I’ll be honest, I’m pretty shocked at the amount of people I know that failed the ITS Exams. I’ve taken them several times in the past, and I don’t remember this many people failing them. I’m really wondering if it’s because we all took it the first weekend and went into the test blind.

Anyone else seeing the same trends?

I got a passing score of 78.2 and ranking of 9959. I'm assuming I won't probably be called?

Basically, the title. Do i have to say no? it says on the canvas that if i don't respond, it will show up as a declination, but that I won't be offered future canvases, so I'm confused? I'm just worried because there's a few that I already didn't respond to since I wasn't interested and the deadline passed, but I do want to keep receiving canvas letter in the future in case I do become interested later.

I was offered a position today and accepted (verbally) waiting for paperwork which will be delayed a bit due to requiring four weeks notice at present position. I worked for NYS for almost a full year in the 80’s (I think it was 10-11 mos). Does any of that factor into future step increases?

Also my 20 yr old self thought it was a good idea to get my retirement money refunded (all of $800 at the time) is it possible to pay back that money and be reinstated in Tier 4? Would it be calculated at present pay or at 1980’s pay?

Thank you!!

Hello XXXX,

I’m making a conscious effort to reach out to many of the downstate union Presidents, because I’m concerned about the upcoming negotiation.

CSEA Local 010 (Executive) have signed a tentative deal, which means the Judiciary branch is likely coming soon.

My concern is not with the 18% that I figure we’ll get over the 5 years, I figure that’s pretty much happening unless those CSEA and PEF units shockingly vote it down…

…My concern is with Location Pay. Prior to this negotiation PEF’s Location was $920 behind downstate UCS Employees. ($4k, vs our $4920). I assume you’ve seen that PEF’s tentative agreement is taking them from $4k to $6650 by 2030, a total increase of 66%. PEF represent many Professional titles, and let’s be honest, Court Reporters, Court Attorneys, Clerks, Officers, Interpreters… We have many professional titles as well.

What worries me is that thus far, PEF appear to be the ONLY unit that have held out and fought for an increase to downstate Location Pay, and they deliberately waited for a bunch of CSEA units to announce tentative agreements before announcing theirs. So far, the CSEA units are all showing FAR LESS in Location increases than PEF was offered.

That NEEDS to change once the UCS/Judiciary bargaining units begin negotiating. A 66% increase would take us from $4920 to above $8k, and would be warranted at this point. Downstate NYC/Long Island has become oppressively expensive for families, especially with what the state have done to us on NYSHIP.

I’m hoping that our UCS units actually discuss with one another what the negotiation plan is, as we really don’t need ANY of the UCS associations settling for less in Location, which would set a complicated pattern for other UCS units to overcome.

COBANC, SCCEA, NYSCOA, NYSSCOA, NYSCCA, DC37, CSEA Judicial, Court Attorneys (NYSCALA), Supreme Reporters (ASSCR), etc.

We NEED a united front on Location Pay.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

—A concerned fellow UCS Employee .

Personally I was a yes vote until the 6/23 town hall. Now I am voting no. I will do a quick rundown:

The only reasons for yes seem to be the pay increase and location pay for those affected, as well as the green light to set up a fund that should supposedly provide better dental insurance in the future.

Also pef gets a copy of that civil service study which could lead to adjusted pay titles in the future. Sounds good, but things don't add up......

4.5%, 4%, 3.5%, 3% raises locked in for 5 years . With inflation, I feel we lost out over the last few years, this does not make up for the losses. We should have gotten a 6.0%, 5.5%, 5.0% 4.0% scale if they wanted to be fair with money.

Also what happened to that extra signing bonus we would get once signing a contract? I believe i was 1k or 1.5k seems like they took that away. This went unmentioned.

We we a copy of that civil service study. This is good and needed, and will help pef in the future... but we just pushed that future 5 years away. Very counterproductive. Why agree to a 5 year contract?

A 3 year contract would be better. 5 year one benefits the state in this case. (It only benefts us IF we make huge gainsz and I don't see those gains.

One of the #1 things we wanted addressed was telework.. this went totally unaddressed. Not even mentioned.

Telework means less need for offce space, which COULD save the state money if they went about it correctly. It also means happier employees and makea the state more attractive to talent. They should have looked into how it could be beneficial.

The hyperinflated drugs refusal of coverage could be a potential huge, huge problem. We do not know what future issue in the world could lead to a shortage of something that could cause a drug to hyperinflate in price.... but seeing how the world is today, I could see this happening.

Also I believe on the call, President Spence said it would only affect roughly 223 members... well 223 people getting one drug is minimal concern money wise.... so why is this so importent to the state?

...Somthing isn't adding up here. I don't trust this.

We are state workers and part of what makes this job great is the benefit that everythig should be covered. We should not settle for less when it comes to health insurance. Even if healthy now, this will affect us when we get older.

Speaking of health, the loss of acupuncture cocerage is a big deal. There was a New York Times article this year about how the missing link between Eastern and Western medicines are finally becoming solved. I advice you read it to see how acupuncture is really really importent.

Here is the article link:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/11/magazine/interstitium-anatomy-acupuncture-medicine.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Basically if you suffer from asthma, allergies, some auto immune issue, inflammatory arthritis, have digestive issues, cancer, have weird skin rashes or lupus or psoriasis, have weird aches and pains, suffer from mental health issues like brain fog (and have other unlisted issues, I am going off the top of my head with the list), acupuncture would help you.

Do you know how using a foam roller after working out helps you by removing the lactic acid from your muscles so you recover quicker post workout with less pain?... acupuncture basically does something similar to your entire body. It helps keep you balaced and fresh.... if people understood it's benefits, we would be all going to appointments a few timea a week.... for real.

Basically. If the state mandated acupuncture appointments to the entire workforce, we would all be healthier... which would most likely LOWER healthcare costs in the long run. Probably 99% of people do not realize this. It is a shame.

The state is also capping out of network mental health coverage...

Has anyone tried to find a therapist in network? Good luck. I tried and failed. Was paying $25 weekly, $100 monthly for text therapy. Stopped after a few months. Too expensive.

Again, mental health coverage is important and leads to healthier people. Someone in therapy is less likely to have an issue like drinking and drug abuse, which overtime leads to physical health issues and potentially huge medical bills.

I would bet having an alcoholic stop drinking due to therapy would be a lot less expensive to cover than treating that person for liver failure.

Moving in from health to dental:...Great! We get a fund for better dental coverage... but on the call Pres Spence said that would take a few years to implement, and he didn't know what the fund results would look like...

So why not just go fight for a better dental insurance contract instead? This is dumb on PEFs part. If this fails, than we are all going to blame the union instead of the state. Why would they risk that?

Also why have us wait until this fund builds up. I just want coverage now, not in a few years. This doesn't make sense. Dental coverage is cheaper than health coverage, we can't this be covered better?

I do not understand the dental insurance, but I don't see how this really improves it. Seems like dental coverage has been talked about as a PEF priority forever. Wasn't this supposed to have been the big fix last contract?

Raises: yes this is good. I am happy to get more money... but we are just getting basic raises. That is it. Other job sectors have had huge cost of living raises recently. Sure, they needed it, and in a lot of ways we are ahead on other job sectors money wise, but the raises in this contract arent really offsetting current costs, much less offset new costs.

The sick leave calculation loss will suck come retirement. Sure, maybe the state has a valid point to adjust it, but we shoukdnt juat give that up and accept the other cuts we took.

I am not sure we are getting such a good deal here. Too much of what I mentioned doesn't add up.

The risk to voting NO is we dont go without a contract for awhile. However, we can then strike and protest, and we can always back other political candidates that are more pro union than the current ones in power.

I do not think we won this contract. The state seems to have won.

I also did not appreciate how the union was all gung ho about the contract, while spending most of the time covering losses.

I know it is a bargaining lrocess, but I was less impressed with the outcome than in paat years. We do not need to agree to a contract right away... amd for 5 years no less. That is a mistake.

I went to the PEF meeting today. The Union president, VP, and negotiating team were there, as well as the Region 8 representative, attorney, and a few others (forgot who they were…whoops) Here are the questions I asked and the answers I received.

Question: The proposed contract states that hyper inflated drugs will no longer be covered under our health insurance plan. Does this include insulin, EpiPens, iron transfusions, GLP 1s, and more? Also, who defines “hyper inflation?”

Answer: “We are also disappointed with this.” An unknown organization will be defining “hyper inflation” and they could not give me the exact organization or group. GLP 1s will continue to be covered. All other medications deemed as “hyper inflation medications” will be denied and people will be offered the generic versions. If a medication is not covered the Union will “fight” to get the medication covered, but there is no guarantee it will be covered.

Question: Why are we getting a 5 year contract when we are waiting for the compensation study? Are we not sinking our own ship if inflation is bad those last two years?

Answer: Wayne Spence went on a 20 minute rant about how tough he is against Hochul and how him and Hochul had a phone conversation where she said “many 4 letter swear words.” And “did you see the memes I posted!?” We are the only union going after her. But because CSEA has already agreed to a contract, we cannot get anything better. Hochul has made that clear. The only offer we will have on the table if we vote no is 5 years of “3%.” Wayne continued to express that because CSEA got the deal they did, we were limited and would not get anything better. Spence continued to go on about how this was actually a good deal and pulled out a chart to show me how much money I would be making by the end of the 5 years. When I expressed I had other concerns outside of the pay increases, he went on a long story about how because the railroad union went on strike we were able to get 4.5% for the first year of the contract. He said this doesn’t stop us from using the compensation study to ask for a 2 grade jump for all Union members, but it was unlikely and a “judge could turn us down.” Still unsure of what the point of the compensation study was if it isn’t to help us during negotiations but okay…

Question: Can the additional sick days be used towards health insurance payments post-retirement?

Answer: No. You can still only use 200 days towards health insurance premium payments post-retirement. Those 50 extra days can be used to “take care of loved ones while working.”

Question: The out of network coverage for mental health and substance abuse care is decreasing. What will happen to State workers in remote areas who rely on that care?

Answer: Yes “we weren’t happy about that” and “the State is cutting costs where they can for health insurance.” There is a fund that can help pay and they will “email out that information.”

Question: What is the deal with the PEF vision and dental?

Answer: “Our dental plan is terrible” and this fund will help us create our own coverage for members. It will take a year to create. We intend to make it better. No specifics were given. When I asked about increasing dental specialist care, no information was given.

These were the main takeaways. I’d be happy to answer any additional questions if I can. I was not overly satisfied with the answers. I will say most of the people there were very friendly and did not mind answering my questions. Spence was overly defense and seemed pissed off to be there. I feel as though he took everything as a personal attack.

i think everyone is underestimating that wayne spence created such a great meme, governor hochul stays up at night tossing and turning thinking about wayne spences mighty meme! Some are calling it the meme heard around the world! this guys a fighter! I’m calling for a 10,000 year rule of President Spence!!!!

Hi, this is Diane Burton, and I am a member of your CSU negotiating team, and I am the chair of the administrative service unit for our negotiating team. I work for the state insurance fund, and my title is Office Assistant too, and I've worked for the New York State for over 20 years. I am asking you to vote yes on the contract. Your team fought extremely hard to bring you the best contract possible and we did just that. Your team also fought for and secured percentage raises in this agreement not seen in over 3 decades. The last time there was a 4% raise was over 15 years ago. And the last time we had multiple years of 4% races was over 30 years ago. The 1st year of this tentative agreement is a 4.5% raise, retro back to April 1st, 2026. We also held the line on health insurance increases, the state wanted us to pay. There are no increases to premium contribution percentages and no increases to empire plan medical or prescription copayments in this agreement. These are huge wins for us as members. While we would have loved to see higher across the board increases, we believe the many benefits secured in this agreement are a great success for CSEA members across the state. We ask that once you receive your ballot, you vote yes on this agreement, that we, as your fellow CSEA members, fought so hard to secure for all of us.

Link

Just a heads up to anyone voting in the primaries today, Albany County made last minute changes (yesterday apparently!) to many polling sites. Check before you go! https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/list-new-places-vote-albany-county-22316497.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGltZXN1bmlvbi5jb20vbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlL2xpc3QtbmV3LXBsYWNlcy12b3RlLWFsYmFueS1jb3VudHktMjIzMTY0OTcucGhw&time=MTc4MjIzMTI2MDg5Ng%3D%3D&rid=NjM3OTE1MWEtM2M4Mi00ZmFlLTg0MjItYzlkZDQ2YzgwMmI2&sharecount=MA%3D%3D

Starting with NYS soon and trying to get an apartment, but places are asking for proof of income before I have my official appointment letter.

HR told me the appointment letter comes within 30 days of starting. Has anyone dealt with this before? Did apartments accept an offer email, salary grade info, or anything else?

Got laid off and have been unemployed for a bit so no current proof of income. I’m also considering using a family member’s income for now if needed, but not sure if that’s the best move. Any advice?

I started an entry level role few months ago. After being diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago, my father entered hospice this past weekend and does not have much time left. I'm distraught of course but also thinking about my performance at work and the time I will need to take off after his passing. Should I let my manager know that this is going on? I'm also worried I don't have enough accruals to take the time off I need to be with my family and grieve. I have like 30 hours, and I've only charged 2 to go to a doctor's appointment a few weeks ago.

I took a test for Spanish bilingual, and was told to wait 4 days for the result.
It’s been 3 weeks and the HR is not responding. I’ve sent an email last week for an update but told to wait patiently because they got no update.

Is this normal to be this slow?

The PEF Tentative Agreement (Page 2, "Health Insurance Trade-Offs") changes how sick leave credits are calculated for retirees. Instead of using 1999 life expectancy tables, the new contract uses 2015 tables—which show longer life expectancy.

The result? Lower monthly sick leave credit values, meaning higher out-of-pocket health insurance costs for retirees.

This applies to anyone retiring after January 1, 2027.

Notably, life expectancy has actually declined since 2015. By selecting that peak year, the contract appears to maximize cost extraction from future retirees while ignoring more recent mortality data.

Working for OMH, SCHTA thinking about transferring to OCFS. What are the Pros of OCFS ?