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 3.10 of the CAPS MOU 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.
CalPERS on Retirement Security. CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng released an article, How We’re Keeping Our Commitment to Retirement Security, to both answer the critics of public employee pensions and reassure CalPERS about the health of the system. In the article, Meng admits that CalPERS has been impacted by the novel coronavirus, just like all investors in the current financial climate. That said, he noted that “long before the Covid-19 crisis, we began developing a detailed strategic plan that not only is serving us well today but will carry us far into the future.”
Continuing, Meng notes that CalPERS is “a long-term investor” and because of that “there’s no need to panic. Market volatility is not unprecedented. Because of the plan we carefully put in place and our ability to access the cash we need, we’ve been able to take advantage of investment opportunities that this downturn has created. We’re executing on our plan, sticking to it, and staying focused.” To read Meng’s complete message, please click here.
CalHR Updated HR Manual, Section 1405 as a result of SB30. On July 30, 2019, Senate Bill (SB) 30 was signed by the Governor. It amended the definition of a domestic partner in Family Code Sections 297 and 299.2, and was effective January 1, 2020. As a result, CalHR has updated CalHR Manual, Section 1405 to provide updated, accurate information on the application of state-sponsored benefits for domestic partners.
CAPSule on the Website. Due to Governor Newsom’s Stay-at-Home order and issues arising from the novel coronavirus, this month’s CAPSule is an email-only issue. Thank you for understanding. Access it on the CAPS Website here.
News Briefs
State workers could be retrained to ‘test and trace’ coronavirus cases, Gavin Newsom says – California state workers could get trained for an emerging workforce of 10,000 coronavirus trackers that Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week will be needed as the state reopens its economy and lifts the stay-at-home order.
When bubonic plague first struck America, officials tried to cover it up – In 1900, the dreaded Black Death showed up in California. Over the next two years, an extraordinary struggle erupted between California officials who denied the existence of plague and federal scientists who fought to stop the growing epidemic. The nationwide controversy drew in the president and nearly two dozen governors, and ultimately forced California’s governor from office – but not before a leading scientist was demonized and more than a hundred victims had died of the grisly disease.