Gov. Andy Beshear announces pay raises, other changes for state's embattled social workers - Courier Journal

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — State social service workers will get an immediate 10% pay raise under steps Gov. Andy Beshear announced Wednesday to improve salaries and working conditions at the beleaguered agency.

"Each and every one of our social workers is absolutely essential," Beshear said at a news conference, flanked by a dozen state social service workers. "We need to take immediate action."

The workers burst into applause at the news and several said afterward the increase will be a big boost in morale for workers struggling with rising caseloads, low wages and a shrinking workforce.

"This is a great start," said Katy Coleman, a social worker from Jefferson County.,

"It's fantastic," said Devin Reul, also a Jefferson County worker, who added workers will continue to lobby for improvements.

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"We're not done," he said. "We've got a lot more work to do."

Raises will begin Dec. 16 for social workers, who start at around $34,000 a year, as well as lower-paid administrative staff and family support workers, who assist people with public benefits.

Terri Noe, a family support worker from Garrard County, said that while work helping people get benefits such as food assistance or Medicaid isn't as visible as some jobs, it is important.

"We're where people go when they have nowhere else to go," she said.

The state will reclassify social service jobs to a higher grade and use existing funds to pay the workers more, Beshear said.

The raises will affect 3,922 employees and will cost about $15 million from the existing budget, Beshear said.

The state has the funds available because of the hundreds of vacancies in the agency that oversees child welfare, state benefits, adult protection, public benefits and other human services. Beshear said.

While the raises will require more money in future years, Beshear, a Democrat, said they will remain in effect and he hopes Republicans who control the legislature agree, especially with Kentucky looking at a budget surplus of about $1 billion.

More funding will be needed for his proposal to hire more workers and implement a student loan forgiveness plan for the employees, Beshear said.

"There is no excuse not to act on it," he said.

Sen. Julie Raque Adams, a Louisville Republican and the Senate majority caucus chair, said she has been urging for years that the state do more to improve its social service system, in particular for the benefit of thousands of children who experience abuse and neglect.

Adams said she needs to learn details of changes proposed by Beshear but congratulated him for acting to give workers raises.

"I'm so glad their plight has been elevated to the point of immediate action by this governor," Adams said.

And Adams said she believes lawmakers will be willing to put more money into social services.

"We have to be dedicated to funding this or else our most vulnerable are going to be in a more precarious situation," she said.

In his 2022 budget proposal, Beshear plans to seek money for an additional 300 social service workers for the understaffed Department for Community Based Service.

And he said he will recommend the loan forgiveness program for social service workers in the new budget plan and will recommend "hero pay" for the employees as part of any recommendation from his administration on how to spend federal money for COVID-19 relief.

Eric Friedlander, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the workers deserve the hero pay.

"You are our everyday heroes," he said, speaking to the assembled workers. "You make a difference in the community all the time."

The move by Beshear comes as workers say low wages and high stress are causing a flood of departures from the agency.

Workers have become increasingly vocal about staff shortages, low pay, high caseloads and other problems they say are endangering those they serve.

Social workers' frustrations spilled out in public last month when about 50 showed up at the Capitol hoping to highlight their concerns to Beshear and lawmakers.

Beshear said Wednesday he met with them and listened.

His announcement Wednesday is the latest of several the governor has made recently in advance of the 2022 legislative session, where lawmakers will take up a new two-year state budget proposed by Beshear.

Last month, Beshear announced he will seek $12.2 million for State Police raises and body cameras. Also last month, he said he will ask for $10 million to expand Waterfront Park into West Louisville.

In social services, workers say escalating caseloads have made the job unmanageable with many leaving the state jobs for the private sector where they can make more money with far less stress.

While the problem has existed for decades, officials say it has reached a critical point.

"We're in dire shape," Beshear said. "We do not have the number of social workers we need for the vulnerable people who depend on us."

Marta Miranda-Straub, commissioner of social services, told a legislative committee in October her agency doesn't pay a living wage and is losing employees faster than it can replace them.

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"We have gone from bleeding to hemorrhaging at this point," she said. "Our clients are in crisis — we cannot be in crisis at the same time."

Wednesday, she expressed excitement about the pay raises and other changes.

"This is a game-changer for our staff," Miranda-Straub said.

More than 600 social services workers have quit or retired this year from the workforce of about 4,300.

Workers are overloaded with cases — each representing a family — that increase in number each time a worker quits and the work is reallocated. While professional standards advise 15 to 18 cases per worker, the average in Kentucky is 26, with some workers reporting caseloads of 75 to 100.

Some administrative and entry level jobs pay so little that the state workers are themselves eligible for benefits such as food and child care assistance that their agency administers.

One worker told The Courier Journal that before she quit her administrative job that paid $20,000 a year, she was eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, as well as help with child care costs for her four children.

Beshear for the past two years has asked the General Assembly for more money to hire more social workers without success.

He said he hopes that changes in 2022.

And he credited the workers for helping bring attention to the situation, saying: "This would not have been happening without the advocacy or our social workers themselves."

Reach Deborah Yetter at dyetter@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4228. Find her on Twitter at @d_yetter. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/subscribe. 

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