It has come to our attention there has been some confusion regarding the proposed pause in contributions by the City to the DEA Health and Welfare Fund in the proposed contract settlement.
Please be advised that this proposed pause is not to your City-covered health benefits, which is your medical coverage provided by either Emblem Health/GHI/HIP or Blue Cross/Blue Shield. This coverage remains the same and is not part of the contract settlement.
What we agreed to in our contract is to pause the contributions made by the City to the DEA’s Health and Welfare Fund, which covers your prescription drug plan through Benecard, your eyeglass plan through Davis Vision, and your dental plan through Cigna. What has been proposed is that for those specific DEA Benefits, effective February 1, 2022, the City will pause contributions for a total of 21 months. Because the DEA has 52 months of reserves in its Health and Welfare Funds for your prescription drugs, eyeglasses, and dental, the DEA will be able to cover that 21-month time period with our own reserves. Consequently, members will experience no change in service during that time period. After the 21 months, on November 1, 2023, the City will resume its contributions at the current amounts.
Thanks to prudent investments and excellent health care plans, the DEA will still retain more than adequate reserves in its Health and Welfare Fund, which we will start to rebuild once the City resumes its contributions.
We hope this clarifies any questions you may have regarding this portion of the contract settlement.
Again, please be on the look-out for the important contract ratification ballot in your home mail. And, please make sure that you vote to ratify the contract and mail your ballot back as soon as possible. The sooner the contract is ratified, the sooner you will receive your retroactive monies.
In the interim, if you have any other questions, feel free to contact your union Delegate, Welfare Officer, Trustee, or the DEA office. We are pleased to start out the new year with this long overdue increase in wages and benefits for our members — the “Greatest Detectives in the World!”
Fraternally,
Paul DiGiacomo
President
& The DEA Board of Officers
Click on the pdf file below to access the five-page attachment containing the Contract Terms and Conditions, which includes a salary chart, longevity escalator chart, an estimated retroactive payment chart, and a salary step chart for newly appointed third graders.
