Former state labor secretary named to panel on leader pay
A former top lieutenant to Gov. Deval Patrick who resigned under a cloud is joining the city board that is preparing to recommend new six-figure salary ranges for top city posts, including members of Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s cabinet.
Walsh is naming former Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Joanne Goldstein to the city’s Municipal Compensation Advisory Board, which studies “the adequacy of salaries” for top nonunion employees before making salary recommendations that must be approved by the City Council. Walsh appoints all the board’s members and chairman John Tobin — a former city councilor — praised the choice.
“She’s an enormously talented woman, her career demonstrates that,” Tobin said. “I’m happy to have her lend her expertise on the board.”
Walsh said in a statement, “Joanne Goldstein has high-level experience with labor and compensation issues, and she will be an asset to the Compensation Advisory Board.”
A union attorney, Goldstein was appointed to the state Labor Department in 2010. But she left the position in 2014 after heavy criticism following her rollout of a glitchy new computer system for dealing with unemployment claims, and her downplaying of complaints about the system.
The unpaid appointment comes as the board is waiting on a study by consulting firm Segal Waters of high-level positions — including department heads like police and fire chief as well as Walsh cabinet posts like chief of staff and chief of operations — that the board is required to make every two years. The report is due by March, but Tobin previously said he expects it to be done before then. Goldstein could not be reached for comment.
The request for consultants to lead the study says the board “recognizes the critical importance of attracting, retaining, and compensating the most talented individuals for these senior management positions, to best serve the public,” and calls to “update” the sections of city law governing their salaries.