PHOENIX - Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Thursday designed to eventually make virtually every worker in Arizona state government subject to discipline or termination at will.
But how many workers will go along voluntarily - and how quickly - remains to be seen.
The personnel reform package was a cornerstone of Brewer's legislative agenda announced in January.
About three-fourths of the 36,000 state employees are "covered," meaning they are entitled to protections of the state personnel system. That means they have certain appeal rights if they are disciplined or fired.
Brewer's legislation says anyone hired on or after Sept. 28 would be ineligible for merit-system protection. Existing covered workers could keep that status.
But the newly approved budget offers a carrot: a one-time 5 percent pay bonus for nine months - but only for "uncovered" workers.
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"What the governor would like to see is, over time, the state transition to a more at-will workforce, similar to what you have in the private sector, where employees are actually rewarded for their performance and not merely their seniority," said gubernatorial press aide Matthew Benson.
Brewer actually wanted a permanent pay hike for state workers who agree to forgo merit protections. Benson conceded it remains to be seen whether a one-time incentive is enough to persuade employees to give up their personnel rights.
"We're not certain how many employees will take that money," he said. But he speculated there are enough workers hungry for additional funds they are willing to make the trade-off.
"Most state employees haven't had a pay raise since 2008," Benson said.
"So we think over time - maybe slower than we'd like - this is going to transition to an at-will workforce, or a majority at-will workforce," he continued. "And that's going to be an easier workforce for the state to manage and a more accountable workforce."
Brewer, in a prepared statement, called the change long overdue.
"The cumbersome rules of our existing personnel system serve only to discourage our best employees and protect the weakest performers," she said. "With this legislation, we will increase state productivity, eliminate bureaucratic red tape and, ultimately, save our taxpayers money."
Part of the contention of those seeking the change is that it is too difficult to fire bad workers, even though during legislative debate Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, cited figures from the state Personnel Board showing that 331 disciplinary actions were appealed over a six-year period, and just 26 were overturned or modified.
Benson said those numbers are irrelevant.
"There may be a relatively small number of cases that the Personnel Board has overturned," he said.
"Just the fact the personnel board is there to overturn a manager can have a chilling effect on their decisions when it comes to managing that workforce."
Benson also said it would be wrong to just look at the issue from the question of the ease of firing bad workers.
He said the current system means every employee with the same job description is paid within the same wage range. That, said Benson, precludes supervisors from rewarding those workers with superior performance.
That possibility led some opponents of the change to contend it would lead to favoritism, with supervisors being able to reward friends or those who are political allies of the party in power.
"There's no silver bullet to prevent that kind of thing," Benson said.
"The key is having good managers in place that are accountable for their actions, that are accountable ultimately to the governor and the taxpayers of this state," he said. "Really, that's the best safeguard against all different kind of bad practices, including preferences to employees the boss favors."
