A state-employee labor union on Thursday accused Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ office of undercutting the state’s civil service laws.

“We went to these laws to cut down on corruption and abuse. We don’t want to go back to those days,” said Betty Vines, president of the Kansas Association of Public Employees, a union that represents about 10,000 state employees.

Vines is upset because Sebelius is scheduled to sign a directive Monday that would give department heads discretion to choose which employees receive some pay raises, thereby allowing the favoritism the civil service system was meant to eliminate.

“This is about giving increases to whomever they want to without regard to performance or longevity,” she said. “We’re against that; we think all employees should be treated fairly and equally.”

But Jack Rickerson, director of the Division of Personnel Services within the governor’s Department of Administration, said Vines had misinterpreted the directive’s intent.

“It looks like there’s been a misunderstanding as to what this is about,” he said, referring to KAPE.

The directive, Rickerson said, is designed to make the pay system less cumbersome and more responsive to state employees’ needs.

Rickerson, a former personnel director at the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, noted the example of an SRS employee whose skills were needed in Topeka and agreed to move there from Garden City. Because the worker’s new job was considered “comparable” to his former position, he was not eligible for a raise.

“Here’s a guy who sells his house and moves his family to Topeka — not because he had to but because he was asked to, for the good of the department — and his department head can’t give him a raise?” Rickerson said. “Most people wouldn’t think that’s fair.”

Another example: One of the state hospitals hired a pair of nurses at entry level pay. Later, when the economy improved and nurses were in short supply, the hospital couldn’t hire more nurses for what the others were being paid, so it had to offer new hires a higher wage.

“That meant you had two sets of people with comparable credentials and comparable experience doing comparable work but getting different pay,” Rickerson said. “That wasn’t fair, but the way civil service works there wasn’t anything the superintendent could do about it.”

Rickerson said the change would not promote favoritism.

“First of all, the money will have to come from the existing budget. There’s no new money in this,” he said. “And the department head will have to get it approved by the budget director. There will be a system of checks they’ll have to go through.”

He added: “I doubt we’re going to see too many cases of this. But there will be some.”

Vines disagreed. She said she fears the directive’s intent won’t match its application in the workplace.

“We’ve asked about those checks, and all we were told was that they would have to be ‘budget neutral.’ That’s all,” Vines said.

There’s nothing in the directive that would stop an agency head from laying off workers to finance raises for pet employees, she said.

“If the state is broke like they keep telling us they are, then where’s the money going to come from?” Vines said. “We think it’ll have to come from layoffs, or firings or leaving positions vacant.”

She said the directive offers workers “no protection” against favoritism in the workplace.

That’s not going to happen, Rickerson said.

“This is not about bringing in some kind of buddy system,” he said. “We don’t want one, and, frankly, we can’t afford one. And I don’t think the taxpayers would stand for it.”

Rickerson said he’s not heard objections from the unions representing state employees who are not KAPE members. Kansas University employees, for example, are not represented by KAPE.

If Sebelius signs the directive Monday, it’s expected to take effect July 1.