The Jindal administration has announced plans to jettison 24 more positions at the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) as a cost cutting measure for the cash-strapped agency but is retaining the top two positions and an administrator hired only a month ago.
The effective date of the layoffs is Aug. 15.
The latest cuts will leave only 47 employees when the agency is relocated to the Claiborne Building basement to share office space with the Office of Risk Management. The Claiborne Building also houses the Civil Service Department, the Board of Regents, the Department of Education, the State Land Office and the Division of Administration.
The layoff plan submitted to the Department of Civil Service on June 14, said there was insufficient work to justify all 71 positions.
Affected by layoffs are eight Benefits Analyst positions, three Group Benefits Supervisory spots, one Group Benefits Administrator, seven Administrative Coordinators, an Administrative Assist, two Administrative Supervisors, one IT Application Programmer/Analyst and one Training Development Specialist.
OBG Chief Executive Officer Susan West, one of those being retained, will be making a physical move back into her old offices. She previously worked for ORM before that agency was gutted by Jindal’s grand privatization scheme and she moved over to OGB.
West, who makes $170,000, and Interim Chief Operating Officer Charles Guerra ($107,000) are not affected by the layoff nor is Elis Williams Cazes ($106,000)) was appointed as Group Benefits Administrator on June 23.
Cazes was previously employed by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana which serves as the third party administrator of the OGB Preferred Provider Operation at a cost to the state of $5.50 per month per enrollee, which computes to an amount a little north of $70 million per year.
Her position was created—and the requirements reportedly written especially to her qualifications—as the Medical/Pharmacy Administrator responsible for benefit plan management and vendor performance with the primary responsibility to “continuously monitor medical and pharmacy benefit plans to seek out modification of plans or implementation of new plans that reduce claims costs and provide efficiencies for the state and plan participants,” according to the justification given for retaining her position.
Well, we can certainly see where her position is as indispensable as West’s and Guerra’s.
All this takes place at a time whe OGB’s reserve fund has dwindled from $500 million at the time of the agency’s privatization in January 2013 to about half that amount today. Even more significant, the reserve fund is expected to dip as low as $5 million by 2016, just about the time Jindal leaves town for good.
Completing the trifecta of good news, we also have learned that health benefits for some 200,000 state employees, retirees and dependents will be slashed this year even as premiums increase.
In June, West broke the news to the OGB employees. She erroneously said the 47 remaining employees would be reassigned other duties and some might see pay reductions and that those with seniority could bump junior employees in desired positions. The Civil Service Department, however, said salaries could not be cut and bumping is no longer allowed.
Isn’t it nice to know your agency director knows the procedures?
Employees were told that letters would go out between July 1 and July 15 to those who were being laid off. On July 7, they were told the letters would be delivered by hand on Friday, July 11. None came. On the following Monday (July 14) confusion of the order of the day as Deputy Commissioner of Administration Ruth Johnson sent emails to those affected and instructed them to attend a noon meeting in the OGB board room. Upon entering the board room, each person was handed a packet that informed them that Civil Service had not approved the layoffs.
During the meeting, according to one who was there, West kept repeating, “I get this. I’ve been where you are. I get this. However, there are worse things. It’s not like losing a child. I get this.”
Way to soften the blow, Susan. You might have reminded them that the fighting between Israel and Palestine isn’t so bad because there’s also an Ebola outbreak in Africa or that while you’re losing your home to a hurricane storm surge, some people are having to endure heavy wind damage. Or better yet, take them all to a showing of The Fault in Our Stars. That’ll cheer them up.
“It was the ‘I get this’ and comparison of losing a job to losing a child that infuriated the OGB state employees,” the employee said. “This is the worst thing in their lives right now, some are battling cancer and working; some have children and grandchildren to feed; some live paycheck to paycheck; some are taking care of the elderly and family; all have bills, rents/mortgages, school tuition, etc.”
But you really can’t blame Susan. She previously worked for ORM and was among those present when ORM Director Bud Thompson broke the privatization news to his employees by standing before them, grinning, as he said, “I still have my job.”
Louisiana Voice 
These people really are sociopaths.
Now we realize why so many Civil Service employees “go postal.”
Please remind us about the incidents where civil service employees have “gone postal.” I would surely remember if any of my compatriots had done so. If anything, public employees have been too passive, like lambs to the slaughter. Maybe some spirited “save our jobs” rallies on the capitol steps would have drawn attention to the bloodbath – the loss of public jobs and services, in favor of privatization resulting in more expense and less service.
But going postal? If my memory serves, all of the tragic incidences of workplace violence have been in private industry, never in government agency offices.
This is so funny that I don’t know where to start, unless you are being sarcastic. The last time I checked, the Post Office was a government agency.
The very term itself was created to describe the actions of a government employee.
Mr. Aswell’s kool-aid drinkers never cease to amaze.
What the people need to understand, this is not a L’il booby thing but a repub agenda. The very same agenda Vitter will pursue also. You want more of the same just continue the carnage with Diaper Dave.
You are absolutely correct. He will hire the same people and pursue the same policies, or even more extreme positions, while feigning opposition to Jindal’s actions.
You are exactly right, Jerry Broussard. Something that needs to be brought to the attention of major news outlets. Thanks for the reminder.
i don’t even want to ask “What’s next?” with this group of @sshats because I’m afraid each episode gets worse and worse. 👿
Can’t you just see Timmy, BJ, Kristy, Ruth and Kyle clinking their glasses of non-alcoholic apple cider together as they offer a toast to the continued “collapsing of silos” in Louisiana? I’m sure they have a timeline and check-off list for implementation of the grand master plan of destruction. Meanwhile, our legislators are preparing for football season.
In the article you named the new Administrator Elis Williams. Her name is Elise Cazes. Why was her maiden name mentioned only? Did the West Baton Rouge political ties to the name Cazes have anything to do with it?
I also understand that she did not qualify for the position as the job description was written and they had to change the job description to fit her qualifications. Of the 24 losing their jobs, none of them qualified for the position of Administrator? As far as her salary being unknown.
I find that hard to believe if you could quote Susan and Bill’s salary. I understand Elise’s salary is over six figures…to the tune of $106,000. I can’t imagine how the 24 employees feel knowing that they are losing their jobs after years with the State knowing that a recent position was created with a salary of $106,000. This has Alvarez & Marsal written all over it!!!! The public should know the truth…the WHOLE truth!
I certainly do not blame you for your suspicious nature, given what this administration is capable of and has done. I do not, however, understand how, after all that I have written about it, you would think for one moment that I would be a part of any cover up.
I will take your question in order.
I used the name Elise Williams because that was the name I was provided by Ruth Johnson in her June 14 letter to Shannon Templet. I had no idea if that was a maiden or married name. And since I wrote this on Saturday, no state offices were open with which to check.
Of the 24 losing their jobs, I am certain at least one or more were qualified for that position and that is precisely why I am so critical of this administration. Fairness is not in their vocabulary.
As for the salaries of Susan West and Charles Guerra, that information was provided by Civil Service and forwarded to me. Elise Cazes’ salary was not provided and again, with state offices closed, I had no way to obtain her salary. Even if state offices were open, I would have been asking for the salary of Elise Williams and not Elise Cazes (because, again, no one provided me her married name), so in all likelihood, I would not have been able to obtain her salary. Now that you have provided her salary and married name, I will make those corrections.
And yes, you are 100 percent correct that this has Alvarez & Marsal written all over it.
How can OGB layoff an IT position? I thought that the agencies no longer had IT positions after they were consolidated under the CIO office… These positions were in control of the CIO… Is that not the case?
I’m disgusted.
What happens when the whole retired employee insurance system collapses (as it will) and a “reinvention” is required? Medicare was not even an legal option for many state employees by agreement to opt out by the state from SS before, as I recall, mid to late 1980’s . But opt out required comparable benefits to federal SS law going forward by the state. Well we know that doesn’t happen with COLAs for retirees, because of “unfunded liability” created, not by employees who to pay into their retirement fund, but by state legislators who deliberately chose to steal that money for their/or someone else who promised them something, pet projects. Were they stupid not to recognize this affected them too, since many run to get the “benefits jobs” … better benefits than most have in their “private sector” jobs and shorter vesting periods?
Now we can all biddy around and spew about almost anything going on in BR, but the truth is none of us individually or even collectively has the courage or money to challenge these issues. To my knowledge the only suit ever filed to protect employee benefits was by the Retired State Employees Association in Aug. 2012. The challenge was to HB 61, later Act 482 of the 2012 legislative session, known as the Cash Balance act. RSEA won the suit, not really on a defense that our reps are evil, but they followed Bobby’s Rules of Order (current edition-and always changes rapidly) and legislatively passed the bill by a simple majority in both chambers and not by the two-thirds vote required for any retirement legislation that results in a cost increase to the state. That lawsuit really benefitted future employees who would have been forced into a “cash balance” rather than defined benefits plan. But us old timers would have eventually reached the point of no input in existing retirement plans to fund the future annuity payments (much like the robbing of OGB trust fund). The cost of the suit to RSEA was about $50K which put a major dent in the piggy bank. So think about joining if you aren’t already a member, and even if you an active employee or not even a civil servant. Their web site is http://www.rseala.org. I do belong to the group and am an officer of the Coastal Chapter but didn’t start my response even thinking about doing a pitch for RSEA. But that Board was really courageous to take on the task, and really heroic for getting the win by assembling the right team. Support them. They listen, hear you and represent (I don’t like the word lobby) for YOUR INTEREST.
I am not a member of State Group Benefits because I retired from an agency which managed its own insurance programs. But I know some of the staff and our benefits manager followed their activities as part of her analysis for our benefits. They always did a great job for their stakeholders, the employees they served which of course included themselves. Their overhead and costs containment record was stellar and without blemish as I recall. Immoral at best, and criminal at worst that OGB being dismembered like a “mechanically stripped chicken” (usually phrase used on dog/cat food). But when there are no more chickens, there are no need for farmers, so they too will pass. And that computer robot whose been stripping off all the others, if the final few are lucky, will only ask them to turn off the light when they leave for the last time. If that robot has artificial intelligence, it will devour them. And burpingly, says “Well it’s not like losing a child. And I still have my job. Feed me Seymore!”
A wonderful comment, “voice of she”!!!
I am a retired OF and have been trying to get somebody at OGB to even talk to me for the past 4 months about an issue that should be easy to resolve if I could simply get somebody down there to talk to me about it. With this further RIF and planned move of remaining OGB staff, I guess I am simply SOL for the moment.
The only benefit of the current direction is that when they price me out of the system (as seems to be the intent), I won’t feel quite so bad about having to go totally off OGB for insurance.
This whole thing (privatization of OGB) was a travesty alpha to the coming omega.
You notice, everything Jindal gets his hands soon becomes “cash strapped.” Mike Foster, you really, really owe the people of Louisiana a public apology for promoting this personification of evil. Hell, public penance on the steps of the state capitol would be a good start. Maybe you could improve your legacy by an expression of sorrow at what you have done, because what you set in motion with this little punk has turned out bad, real bad.
Unfortunately, Mike Foster dwells on a plane so high above that of mere non multi-millionaire mortals that our comments have as much chance reaching him as an atheists prayers have reaching higher than the ceiling.
I’ve known Susan West for some 15-plus years and I hope she will be strong enough to fight for the right of the people, not the Jindalites or Kristy Nichols who is no more than a delivery person for the Governor. Nichols knows no right or wrong and she will answer one day to a higher power than Jindal. Neither she nor Jindal care for the people of Louisiana as they continue the insane rules/breaking of laws and this will be their legacy. I pray that Ms. West will continue in her faithful walk in life and be strong for she will need to be because she will see the good, the bad and the ugly and be a talking head for the OGB and the civil servants of this state. God Rules, Susan, you will need to always ask Him and not be afraid to follow the right path!!!
Does this really suprise anyone? I called OGB a few months ago to try to get help with a problem I was having with Blue Cross, I was told that they had no power over our insurance any more, their hands were tied and they could do nothing to help. They said I was not the only one who had the problem and that they would bring it up at their next staff meeting because there were so many of us and they (OGB) didn’t like it either. And just FYI the problem with BCBS was I was dropped from the Wellness Plan w/o any notice whatsoever and became aware when I went to the drugstore to pick up meds they wanted $454.00 for one inhaler. This happened because I failed to speak to a health coach within my 90 day requirement. Back to OGB’s issues, that woman may end up losing a child herself, usually making those kind of mean hateful statements usually come back to bite you ine the @#%. I have seen it take as long as 5 years for what goes around come around to someone like that in state service but it happened and I was here to watch. The short term plan is to privitaze or consolidate most all agency’s. My agency and others are currently waiting to be moved to the Division and when that happens there will be one big HR, accounting and purchasing. Several OGB employees are working under the Division now, not OGB. Two other points to make, before the Teagueing OGB was making a profit, weren’t they? I think it was in LouisianaVoice that I read that our insurance is not really insurance anymore because the Commissioner of Insurance cannot regulate it because it does not fall under the class of insurance anymore, and that is why they can change our coverage on August 1st in the middle of a plan year and we cannot do anything about it.
“It’s not like losing a child.” – This statement reminds of “Let them eat cake”. Where do these people come from? Man.
I thought this exact thing! We should all gather to eat cake on Jindal’s last day. I hope that day is a day of celebration and not the dawn of more insanity under Vitter.
Great idea, SRIRACHA. We have also been thinking that a celebration should be planned, with many cakes. Invitation through this medium. A very large gathering place will be needed.
18th Century France….Louisiana-France