In November 2023, approximately two-thirds of the 1,000 Social Workers in H+H submitted a grievance to Central Office objecting to the method by which retroactive pay was calculated after the implementation of our 2021-2025 Contract. In other agencies, the retroactive raises were calculated as supplemental to other adjustments made since the start of this contract (May 25, 2021).

H+H, however, chose to calculate raises excluding any adjustments made during that period, leading most of us to receive substantially lower raises than if H+H had followed the pattern set by other agencies (approx $4k lower for most Level 2 Social Workers). As a result, Social Workers submitted a grievance for improper implementation of the contract to the H+H's Office of Labor Relations. Despite several follow up requests, we are still waiting to receive a scheduled hearing. 

On Tuesday April 2nd, sixteen Local 768 Social Workers attended a H+H Board of Directors Public Meeting at which Dr. Katz (CEO of H+H) was present. Five of our fellow social workers presented statements to the Board of Directors (click here to watch!), in which they advocated for pay equity with other titles. Dr. Katz responded to the statements directly with the following summarized response:

“I believe that we will have a resolution very soon…We have been working with your union and we believe that a solution will come forth, it isn’t signed, so it’s not public, I can’t talk about it, except to say that I think that it will answer the correct request for equity, which is what we want to do…I do recognize the great work you do and I’m hopeful that when we get to announce with your union the agreement, that it will meet your need.”

We are proud of our chapter's organizing over the last several months to help push this forward - getting over 600 H+H Social Workers across the city to sign our collective grievance. We will stay tuned to ensure the proposed solution meets our needs for Social Work pay equity, and will continue to organize if we need to take further steps in demanding a hearing for our grievance.

The Social Work chapter leadership will update the chapter with any news we hear regarding a pay equity agreement between H+H and DC37. Thank you to everyone who signed our grievance, and to those who joined and spoke on Tuesday!