FRANKFORT, KY (AP/Deborah Yetter) Kentucky’s embattled state social service workers are about to get a raise — their first significant pay upgrade in nearly a decade.
Officials with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced the pay raises Monday and said the changes will mean some increase in pay for all “front line” workers in social service jobs.
The changes also create a “career ladder” to increase pay for workers who would like to move up within their area of expertise but aren’t necessarily seeking to become supervisors, Feeley said. The changes apply to about 3,765 social service and family support workers across Kentucky, with the exception of a handful of top supervisors who have reached the maximum pay level.
The pay raise takes effect Sept. 16.
Cabinet officials said this month that the pay increase is part of an effort to upgrade working conditions for the state’s social service workers, who handle child abuse and neglect, adult protection and other services for vulnerable children and adults. Workers have reported increasingly high caseloads, frequent turnover in some local social service offices and vacancies throughout the state, with workers leaving faster than they can be replaced.
Entry-level workers who start at $32,042 a year would get a pay increase to $33,644 — an increase of about $1,600 a year. Supervisors who start at $38,770 a year would be raised to $40,800, an increase of about $2,030 per year.
The new salary system also creates categories within certain areas allowing workers to seek higher classifications for higher pay.