The State of Utah is going fully corporate under a new law (HB109) that creates a new Department of Technology Services (DTS) and changes the status of all new hires to exempt or non-merit so called schedule AT employees. "AT" or "exempt" employees are different than the current "schedule B" or "career service employees" such as myself in the rights they have to their jobs and in hiring and firing decisions. The "exempt" employee status means that, "works at the will and pleasure of the employing agency and can be released from their appointment at any time without explaination or just cause."
Fellow worker Raphael C and many thousands of her co-workers coming under the rules and management of the new DTS received a threatening memo from management dated April 3, 2006. In effect this memo attempts to extort existing Utah State Information Technology Services employees to voluntarily give up their schedule B, career service employee status, moving to AT or exempt employment status in exchange for a 3 step hourly pay increase. The memo reprinted below in effect threatens existing career service employees when it states that, "There are two ways that this conversion will take place.