• To ensure that employees, active and retired, are treated fairly and equitably under the rules, regulations, laws and contracts that apply to them.
• To provide support and guidance in helping employees develop their greatest potential to serve the City of Woburn. 
  

To carry out their mission the Human Resources Department plays an active role in the following:

• Employee procedures, including wage and hour administration.
• Labor relations.
• Employment opportunities and hiring, including: 
  1. Civil Service
  2. Official Service
  3. Labor Service, as well as
  4. Hiring which is exempt from Civil Service laws and guidelines.
• Benefits Adminstration
  • Benefits for City employees include contributory health insurance, contributory life insurance, 100% employee-paid dental insurance, a voluntary Deferred Compensation Plan, a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program, paid vacation and personal days, earned sick leave and bereavement days
• Workers Compensation
  
• Department of Employment and Training (unemployment) claims.
• Various other matters, such as Safety, Equal Employment Opportunities and the American Disabilities Act, which affect employees.
• Communicating information regarding employees to the City management team, the City Council, the media, the citizens of Woburn, other interested parties and the employees themselves.

Office Information

The Human Resources Department, located on the second floor of City Hall (next to the Elevator),  is staffed by:

Jan Robbins Cox, Director of Human Resources

Elaine Pruyne, Human Resources Assistant (part-time)

Thomas Smith, Human Resources Assistant


Hours

Hours are standard City Hall hours of:
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Friday


Employee Statistics

Approx. 450 active full and part-time employees for City.  (Does not include School Department employees.) Approx. 450 retirees who are insurance benefits eligible.


Employment Opportunities

The City of Woburn follows Civil Service rules and regulations for hiring most positions. The Civil Service rules and regulations are found in the Massachusetts General Laws and administered by the Human Resources Division of the Finance and Administration Department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Civil Service hiring covers:

Civil Service:
Police Officers, Fire Fighters, most Clerical and some Administrative positions, all requiring successful completion of Civil Service examinations as well as interviews and other background checks.

Official Service:
Technical positions requiring licenses and/or examinations as well as interviews and background checks.

Labor Service:
Laborer positions requiring the filing of an application with the City as well as interviews and background checks. There is a residential preference in Labor Service hiring. (Labor Service hiring is delegated to the cities and towns of the Commonwealth.)
If a person would like to become a candidate for a Civil Service position, he or she should:

1. Go to the City Clerk’s Office in any city or town and obtain the schedule and an application for the next examination to be given for the job or jobs he or she would like to have.
2. Complete and submit the application for the examination.
3. Take the examination at the scheduled time.
4. Based on a passing score for the examination, the applicant will receive notice of job openings and can respond, if interested.
   
   

If a person would like to become a candidate for an Official Services position, he or she should:

1. Contact Civil Service in Boston (telephone number 617-727-3777) and arrange to take an examination for the position.
2. In cases where the position requires licensing or certification, the applicant can arrange to submit proof of the license, etc.
3. If the applicant is successful in the examination and/or certification, he or she will be contacted for further consideration when there are Official Service job openings.
   

If a person would like to become a candidate for a Labor Service position, he or she should:

1. Come to the City of Woburn Human Resources Department or the Mayor’s Office at City Hall to obtain an application for Labor Service positions.
2. Complete the application and submit it to the City’s Human Resources Department.
3. Receive a letter from the Director of Human Resources after the application is processed to provide the Labor Service Number he or she has been assigned.
4. Respond to any interviews for Labor Service jobs sent by the City Department regarding a job opening.
   

Additionally, there are positions Exempt from Civil Service. Hiring of those positions is done directly by the City after advertising for candidates.

The following positions are available as of March 1, 2003.

None.
At this time there is a hiring freeze in the City of Woburn.

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Benefits

Benefits for City of Woburn unionized employees are negotiated as a part of labor contracts between the City of Woburn and the specific unionized groups. Other, non-unionized employees, receive benefits which are more completely covered by City Ordinances. In general, City of Woburn employees have the following benefits:

1. Contributory Health Insurance
   - City pays 90% of HMO premiums, employees pay 10%
   - City pays 75% of Indemnity health insurance premiums, employees pay 25%
2. Contributory basic term life insurance of $5,000.
   - City pays half the premium, employee pays half
   - Additionally, employees may purchase at group term rates optional addition life insurance up to a maximum of $1,000 less than annual salary.
3. Dental Insurance in which employees pay 100% of the premium under group rates.
4. Paid vacation (minimum of two weeks and maximum of five weeks per year) dependent on years of service and for union employees, dependent on negotiated terms of the labor contract.
5. Paid personal days (two per year unless labor contract provides different terms).
6. Paid bereavement days (number of days dependent on the relationship of the employee to the deceased person.)
7. Earned sick leave. Each employee earns one and one-quarter sick days per month or fifteen days per year. The sick days may be used only for legitimate sickness and/or injury and may be accumulated, if not used. There is no other sick leave or disability coverage for employees. The labor contracts for union employees and City ordinances for non-union employees provide more complete information on sick leave.
8. Comprehensive Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which provides emergency counseling and referral services for a number of problems and issues which employees sometimes face, including substance abuse, marital and other family issues, crisis counseling, child care and elder care referrals, legal service referrals, etc.
9. Voluntary Wellness programs
10. Voluntary Deferred Compensation Program in which an employee may designate an amount of money to be withheld on a pre-tax basis from his weekly pay and invested on a tax exempt basis in one of a number of investment options. The Deferred Compensation Program is under the oversight of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Treasurer’s Department and is administered on a contract basis by ING.
11. Contributory Retirement Pension Plan. See the Retirement System Administrator for additional information on the Pension Plan.
    

Workers compensation benefits provide coverage for medical costs incurred when an employee has an on-the-job accident, resulting in personal injury. Additionally, workers compensation provides bi-weekly payments to employees who have been out of work for more than five days due to an on-the-job injury. These tax-free payments are set at a percentage of the weekly pay for employees who are not police officers or fire fighters. For police officers and fire fighters there is an Injured on Duty state law that provides for tax-free payments of 100% of salary.

When an employee has an on-the-job accident, resulting in personal injury, the following steps should be taken:

1. Determine the seriousness of the accident and seek appropriate medical attention. Do not hesitate to call for an ambulance or other emergency response personnel if the situation is serious. (Trained emergency response personnel are able to determine the best course of action and will have direct access to Hospital emergency room resources.)

2. All serious injuries should be reported to the City's Human Resources Department as soon as possible.

3. Supervisor of the injured employee should complete the SUPERVISOR'S REPORT OF ACCIDENT - INTAKE FORM for all injuries, serious and those not considered serious, immediately and no later than forty-eight (48) hours after the incident.

4. Using the form as a guide, the Supervisor should call 1-800-799-6442 (MIIA) to report the accident and make a note on the form that the accident was called in to MIIA with the date and time.

5. The Supervisor should also attempt to have the injured employee sign the Medical Authorization Form.

6. The Supervisor should send a copy of the completed SUPERVISOR'S REPORT OF ACCIDENT and a completed copy of the Medical Authorization Form to the Human Resources Department for follow-up action.

7. If employee does not require emergency response to the injuries, he or she should be referred to his/her primary care physician for appropriate and diagnostic medical treatment.

8. Within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the information on the SUPERVISOR'S REPORT OF ACCIDENT for a serious accident, MIIA will contact the employee.

9. If necessary, MIIA will also contact the supervisor to discuss the incident and specific back-to-work plans, possibly with temporary modified duty. The back to work plan often requires cooperation and communication among MIIA, the injured employee, the medical care provider and the Human Resources Department of the City of Woburn.

10. The Claims Specialists and Nurse Case Managers at MIIA will follow the injured employee's progress by maintaining open communication with the employee and the medical provider(s) for the employee.

11. Once a return to work plan has been accepted by the employee's medical care provider (physician), it may be necessary to hold a meeting with the employee to review the modified work program.

12. The MIIA Claims Specialists will communicate the employee's progress with the Director of Human Resources and the employee's supervisors on a need to know basis until the employee is fully returned to his/her pre-injury position.

Any questions or requests for assistance on reporting of injuries can be referred to MIIA at 1-800-799-6442 or the City's Human Resources Department at 781-932-4459 or 4478.

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