Board Meeting Postponed. The CAPS Board of Directors’ Meeting which was previously scheduled for May 16, 2020 has been postponed to June 13, 2020. Currently, the meeting is scheduled to be held at the Holiday Inn – Sacramento Downtown, Arena (300 J Street Sacramento) contingent upon the lifting of Governor Newsom’s Stay-at-Home Order. To visit CAPS new webpage surrounding COVID-19 Resources, please click here.
CA Supreme Court Schedules Argument in Important Pension Case. The California Supreme Court has scheduled argument for Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 9:00 am in Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association.
As a refresher, the Alameda and Marin (Marin Association of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees’ Retirement Association) cases involve the “California Rule,” which says vested benefits cannot be taken away from current employees without providing them something of value in return. This has been the law for nearly 70 years and is followed in other states. In both the Alameda and Marin cases, county governments seek to take away items from pension calculations (standby pay, cash payments for health care, and other things that don’t currently factor into State employee pension calculations). Both county governments want changes to apply to current employees. The Court of Appeal in Marin held that pension rights are not “immutable” and that there is no inconsistency in holding that, while employees have a vested right to a pension, the amount, terms, and conditions of the benefits may be altered because employees were only promised a “reasonable pension.” The Court said there is no requirement that the elimination or reduction of an anticipated retirement benefit be counterbalanced by a comparable, new benefit. This is contrary to the practice of the “California Rule,” and would not be a favorable conclusion for public sector employees.
By comparison, the Court of Appeal in the Alameda case said the Marin holding was too broad, that pension boards have a higher burden to justify changes to employee benefits, and that changes must be related to the purpose of the pension fund. If you would like to observe the arguments online, there will be a link on the Court’s homepage 5 minutes before arguments are scheduled to start at https://www.courts.ca.gov/.
CAPS Member Needs Our Help! Military Department Sr. Environmental Scientist and CAPS Member Brian Pierskalla has requested catastrophic leave donations in order to continue receiving pay and benefits. Section 2116 of the CalHR Manual allows the transfer of the following types of leave credits as catastrophic leave: CTO, Personal Leave, Annual Leave, Vacation, Personal Day, and/or Holiday Credit. If donating Personal Holidays, they must be donated in whole-day increments per the donating employee’s time base. All other donations must be made in a minimum of one hour (1.00) increments. Sick leave cannot be donated. If you can spare even ONE HOUR, it would greatly assist this member. CAPS is grateful to all who can assist. Download the donation form and get more details here.
News Briefs
California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveils guide to lifting state’s coronavirus restrictions – California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a guide to how California will reopen society and the economy across the state as officials weigh lifting restrictive orders meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “While Californians have stepped up in a big way to flatten the curve and buy us time to prepare to fight the virus, at some point in the future we will need to modify our stay-at-home order,” Newsom said in a statement. “As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before.”
From the Black Death to AIDS, pandemics have shaped human history. Coronavirus will too – Pandemics have violently reshaped civilization since humans first settled into towns thousands of years ago. Before the cholera epidemics of the 19th century, cities thought nothing of mingling their sewage and water supply. … Americans, by and large, appear to be looking to science to save the day, not to political spin and partisanship. The virus could revive faith in the inarguable forces of biochemistry, deep in the fact-based universe.