CASE Baseball Series Is Back! The CASE Board is pleased to invite you once again to our exclusive series of socials at the ballpark - just for CASE Members and their families. We are inviting members to join us at games across the state. For a discounted price of $30, you will get the chance to participate in a great American tradition and build camaraderie with your fellow CASE Members. Here is the schedule:
- San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres on Tuesday, April 29 at 6:40 pm, Section 122, (Tony Gwynn Bobblehead Night)
- Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, May 19 at 7:10 pm, Field Level 45 (Vin Scully Bobblehead Night)
- New York Mets at San Francisco Giants on Sunday, July 27 at 1:05 pm, Lower Box 127 (Lou Seal Funko Pop Bobblehead Night)
- Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday, August 22 at 6:38 pm, Field Box 102 (Giveaway TBD)
Tickets are limited, so buy yours today at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/case-springsummer-baseball-4062323
The Sacramento Bee – “California’s AG could receive $25 million to fight Trump. Attorney union has concerns.” This article, published by the Sacramento Bee, discusses what the California Attorney General’s Office may do with the funds it is expected to receive from the state to fight legal battles it anticipates will arise with the Trump Administration. CASE President, Timothy O’Connor, was featured in the article, highlighting the potential for the attorney general’s office to hire outside counsel to handle these cases that should be handled by state attorneys:
“The union representing state attorneys has concerns about how the California Attorney General’s Office could spend the $25 million it is expected to receive to prepare the state for anticipated legal fights with the incoming Trump administration.
Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately called for a special session to boost the Justice Department’s budget days after Donald Trump won a second term. The proposed budget increase is before lawmakers now.
After the attorney general’s office hired a private law firm to help take on big oil companies, the union fears that the state might tap outside counsel to handle other, high-profile cases against Trump.
The labor group already unsuccessfully disputed the contract with a private law firm hired in 2023 to work on a “monster” climate change lawsuit, but the state attorneys’ union said it would challenge any future attempts by the Justice Department to contract with private firms.
‘If we see any hiring of outside counsel for the Trump cases, we’re going to go after each and every one of them,’ said Timothy O’Connor, the president of the union, the California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment.
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it would not disclose potential legal strategies in sharing how the money would be spent.”
To read the article in full, click here.
Victory for CASE Members at Office of the State Public Defender. CASE secured a huge win for members at OSPD who were informed last year that they would have to pay back thousands of dollars each due to a retirement contribution deduction error through no fault of their own.
Over the last several years, OSPD inexplicably applied erroneous retirement classification codes to our attorneys there, and only discovered the error after an audit. During some years, our members overpaid their retirement contributions, but for most years, the State was withdrawing less than the amount they were supposed to. As a result, our members were told that they owed anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500 and were told they had to pay it back or face wage garnishment through future payroll deductions.
The members contacted CASE, and we filed a grievance on their behalf. We relied on a provision of the Government Code that specifies that errors of this type, made without the employee’s knowledge, are not subject to recoupment. However, OSPD rejected that argument and insisted our members repay the missing contributions. CASE then filed a petition with the CalPERS board, asking them to follow the law, and CalPERS agreed with CASE that the error was not the fault of the employees, and they should not be required to repay the amounts. While CASE was disappointed that OSPD management not only had no interest in following the law, but also had no interest in seeking clarification from CalPERS, CASE is pleased that CalPERS correctly interpreted the law, saving our members thousands of dollars of improper reimbursement charges that OSPD was planning on imposing.
Membership Recruitment Incentive Program. To encourage all members to help us expand our influence and explain the individual and collective benefits of CASE Membership, the Board created the Membership Recruitment Incentive Program. If you recruit a new CASE Supervisory or Manager Member and are listed as the referring member on their application, you will receive $100. The top recruiter in each quarter will receive a bonus payment as well. The referral name must be listed on the application at the time of submission and incentives are paid out quarterly. You’ll want to focus your efforts solely on your supervisor and manager peers since the Dills Act and Excluded Employee Bill of Rights prohibit you from recruiting rank-and-file members.
Our online membership application is easy for you to share and easy for your fellow supervisor and manager colleagues to complete. Find it here.