Keeping you up-to-date on our work to increase your salary, improve and protect your benefits, and aggressively represent your professional interests in every forum where they are at stake.
CASE BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATE
Strengthen Your Union, and Get a Little Gift for Yourself. It’s a good time of year to remind everyone about our Member Recruitment Incentive Program. When you invite a colleague to join CASE and they list you as the person who referred them, they get the protections and benefits of CASE Membership, and you get $100. (Referral must be listed on the new member’s application at the time of submission). Top referrers each quarter get a bonus reward, too.
Efforts to Correct the ALJ Consolidation Project Implementation Continue. In 2022, CASE and CalHR worked with the State Personnel Board to increase career opportunities and ease movement between agencies for Administrative Law Judges by consolidating dozens of department-specific classifications into a newly created statewide ALJ classification. In July 2023, it became apparent that for a small group of ALJs at DIR, the peculiar manner in which the consolidation was implicated resulted in a delay to their receiving the 4.5% Special Salary Adjustment they rightfully expected to receive on July 1. After months of informal meetings to resolve the matter, CASE filed a grievance in early November. Last week, CASE and CalHR held a grievance conference to identify remaining issues needing resolution. CASE was able to provide key data to CalHR to illustrate the discrete nature of the issue. A grievance response is due in January. For more on the impact of the grievance and arbitration process, read on . . . .
Governor Grants Informal Holiday Time Off. Per tradition, the Governor has granted state employees 4 hours of informal time off for the upcoming holiday season. All employees may take up to 4 hours ITO that, in most cases, should be taken the business day before December 25 or the business day before January 1. Employees required to work those days, or who would be scheduled to work but are on paid leave, should be granted the time off prior to June 30, 2024, if administratively feasible. ITO cannot be cashed out at separation, so make sure to use it.
Work Week Groups SE and E can combine their 4 hours of ITO with paid leave to equal a full day off or use their ITO to leave early after working a partial day. Happy Holidays!
Better Know Your MOU
Grievances, Arbitrations, & You. As previously reported, CASE continues to press the need for maximum telework flexibility for all Unit 2 employees. Arbitration of a grievance against CalPERS’ policies began in November and continues in February, with additional arbitrations scheduled for grievances against CDTFA in March, and more after that.
Article 7 of the CASE MOU governs grievance and arbitration procedures. A grievance challenges a violation of an express term of the MOU. While any member can file a grievance on their own behalf, a benefit of membership is access to CASE’s experienced, professional staff, with decades of combined experience resolving MOU conflicts – sometimes without even needing to file a formal grievance. If an MOU dispute cannot be resolved through informal efforts or the grievance process, the decision to arbitrate a dispute belongs to CASE. Individual employees cannot pursue arbitration on their own.
Why? Because an arbitrator’s decision interprets the CASE MOU and the CASE MOU covers all Unit 2 employees. Grievances can be filed in the name of individual employees, but also frequently are filed to cover named employees plus all similarly affected employees. CASE’s telework policy grievances were all filed on behalf of all impacted Unit 2 employees. Ensuring the MOU is enforced for one member, ensures it is enforced for all.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
News of interest to CASE legal professionals:
- California Supreme Court rules against case seeking damages from PG&E over its planned power outages – The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)
- CA ALJ Asks Cruise Why It ‘Misled’ Regulators Over October Crash – Forbes
- ‘Despicable’: State revokes Berkeley doctor’s license for using ‘sham treatment’ on cancer patients – San Francisco Chronicle (free read)
- Supreme Court conservatives seem likely to axe SEC enforcement powers – NPR
REMINDERS
Increases to Business & Travel Reimbursement Rates Coming January 1. CASE is pleased to announce that thanks to the work of both the CASE Bargaining Team and Supervisor and Manager Meet and Confer Team, the state will be increasing Business & Travel Reimbursement Rates effective January 1. You can check out the increased amounts here. The State continues to work towards the adoption of the federal reimbursement rates established by the General Services Administration (GSA). Look for more news on improvements in future CASE Files.
Calling all CASE Runners! Members from any department are invited to join the California DOJ Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay team, March 23-24, 2024. The team is looking for members to embrace the challenge of this highly competitive, grueling, non-stop competition that highlights the work of public servants and offers a chance for cross-agency camaraderie. Learn more about the race here. Up to the challenge or want to learn more? Contact CASE Vice President (and race veteran) Ryan Smith.