CCHCS Employee Health Teams (EHT) Update
September 29, 2020

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On September 29th, 2020, our Union met with California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) to discuss the formation and implementation of an Employee Health Team (EHT) at each institution throughout the State.

CCHCS management and labor discussed the need to quickly create and mobilize these new EHT teams to rapidly respond to and identify employees who are confirmed, probable, or exposed to COVID-19. Each state institution would have its own dedicated EHT team comprised of at least two Registered Nurses, one Medical Assistant, and either a Staff Services Analyst or Associate Governmental Program Analyst.

Some of the major details from the meet and confer include:

CCHCS is currently recruiting for the teams on a voluntary basis which, once accepted, would be permanent, full-time positions removing the employee who accepts the EHT position out of the post-and-bid process of their current institution.

Our Union asked CCHCS management for clarity on the post-and-bid process and what, if any, return rights would these employees have.

CCHCS management responded the EHT teams would no longer participate in any future post-and-bids including vacation bids. If an employee needed to return to their original position after joining an EHT team, as long as the employee’s position had not been backfilled, the original employee could return, but there would be no bumping. Management also stated they would be open to allowing employees to return to their original position if the EHT assignment did not work for either the employee or management.

  • While each EHT team will be assigned to an institution, the team will technically be working and answering to a chain of command out of CCHCS headquarters in Elk Grove, CA. 
     
  • Our Union raised concerns over employee medical privacy. Management expressed that the EHT teams will only be working with and responding to employee COVID matters and not inmates or patients of the institutions.
     
  • Our Union asked many questions and raised serious concerns regarding this implementation and compliance with the merit based civil service process, to which the department generally could not respond.

In light of the lack of clarity from CCHCS management, our Union determined that several serious concerns are still outstanding and did not come to any type of understanding during this meeting. Our Union demanded additional meetings to fully discuss and review the details of this new Employee Health Team implementation.

If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to reach out to your bargaining unit via email at either unit1@seiu1000.org, unit17@seiu1000.org, or unit20@seiu1000.org, by Friday, October 9, 2020.