The California State Personnel Board heard oral arguments Sept. 14 in AFSCME Local 2620’s challenge to the continued use of personal-services contracts for prison health-care work by California Correctional Health Care Services, or CCHCS. The proceeding is documented in the board’s meeting transcript and the official meeting minutes.
The appeal involves contracts covering pharmacy and allied-health positions, including pharmacists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and optometrists working in California prisons, according to the hearing transcript. AFSCME attorney Peter McIntee represented the union, while Anita Garcia Velasco represented CCHCS’s Office of Legal Affairs.
AFSCME argued that an earlier board decision, PSC 19-0015B, required CCHCS to stop contracting out covered services by April 30, 2020, after a short period to recruit civil-service employees. The union said continued registry staffing was inconsistent with that order and with state rules governing personal-services contracts. It also argued that the department had not done enough to recruit or improve compensation for civil-service positions.
CCHCS defended the contracts as necessary to cover vacancies and maintain health care for incarcerated people. Its attorney said the department had expanded recruitment, created a workforce unit, used job postings and professional outreach, and held recruitment fairs. CCHCS characterized registry workers as a temporary relief valve when civil-service positions cannot be filled, while acknowledging that the department does not control wages, prison locations or the pool of qualified applicants.
Board members questioned why registry staffing remained in use six years after the earlier order and whether it had become a continuing staffing model rather than a short-term measure. The board also heard arguments over recruitment efforts, salary authority and the potential disruption of care if the contracts were ended.
The matter was submitted for decision, according to the transcript. The retrieved hearing record does not include a final board decision or order.
