To: Board of Supervisors
From: Anna Roth, Health Services Director
Report Title: Temporary Hire of County Retiree Farnaz Noori - Waiver of 180-Day Sit-out Period in the Health Services Department.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. WAIVE the 180-day "sit-out" period for Farnaz Noori, Diagnostic Imaging Technologist III - B (Mammo and IR) (V8NB), in the Health Services Department;
2. FIND that the appointment of Farnaz Noori is necessary to fill a critically needed position in the Health Services Department; and
3. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the hiring of retiree Farnaz Noori as a temporary County employee for the period of July 8, 2024 through June 7, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Upon approval, this action has an annual cost of approximately $63,701.00. Salary costs are included in the Department's operating budget. Contra Costa Health Services - Hospital Enterprise Fund I will fund this position. (Org No. 6357)
BACKGROUND:
The Public Employee Pension Reform Act of 2013 requires that active members who retire on or after January 1, 2013, must wait 180 days after retirement before returning to work as a temporary employee. The Act also allows the Board, based on a finding that the appointment is necessary to fill a critically needed position, to waive the 180-day "sit-out" period.
Farnaz Noori (EE # 49250) was employed in the Diagnostic Imaging unit from October 1991 to April 2024. Farnaz served as a Diagnostic Imaging Technologist III - B (Mammo and IR) from November 2018 until retirement. Since Farnaz retired, it has been challenging to recruit qualified candidates (permanent and temporary) due to the uncompetitive salary of this classification. In addition, Breast Cancer Screening is a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Reimbursement Metric where the hospital and health centers must meet their metric target by having core mammography staffing in order to receive reimbursement for patients in the community.
The Pittsburg Health Center (PHC) averages 16 patients per day and since Farnaz's retirement, there was no choice but to block out the schedule for 11 days, which meant the Diagnostic Imaging unit was unable to perform mammography services to 176 patients in East County. The unit also forecasts to have additional days that will need to be blocked out of the PHC schedule due to limited staffing.
Bringing Farnaz back as a retiree will help reduce staffing gaps, improve appointment scheduling, and attend to critical patient care by providing on-time treatment to the community.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this action is not approved, the department will not be able to fulfill the required metrics to receive reimbursement, there will be limited to no open scheduling for mammography services, and operational needs will not be supported appropriately.