State Controller’s Office Makes Calculation Error. The State Controller’s Office (SCO) has announced that they made an error when calculating employee’s retirement deductions that resulted from the May Budget Revise Reductions negotiated across all units. As a result, the July payroll retirement withholding amount was less than what it should have been for employees who were subject to PLP or Furlough with payments issued between July 8 – July 23, 2020. Depending on the employee’s circumstances, the impact of the error varies. The employee share amount ranges based on the gross subject to retirement amount but is estimated to be between approximately $.01 to $100, depending on the amount of retirement deduction. SCO has announced that they will correct the discrepancy in the August 2020 pay warrants. The adjustment will be shown as a deduction “*PERS ADJ” on the earnings statement on the Cal Employee Connect Portal. CAPS has contacted SCO via CalHR to request a list of members who will be subject to the correction, along with the amount of the expected adjustment, and will notify members as soon as any information is received.
New Month Adds 16 hours of PLP 2020, Increases Vacation/Annual Leave Cap. It’s the start of a new month, and that means that full-time Unit 10 State Scientists have been credited with another 16 hours of PLP 2020. This leave can be requested and taken in the same manner as vacation and can be used in place of sick leave, at the member’s discretion. State Scientists’ vacation/annual leave cap increases commensurate with the number of hours of PLP 2020 that have been credited, meaning for August, the cap increases by a total of 32 hours, to 672 hours. The vacation/annual leave cap increase lasts until 2025.
Supreme Court Rules in Alameda Case. The California Supreme Court released its decision late last week in Alameda Deputy Sheriff’s Association v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association. CAPS followed the case closely due to the potential impact of the decision on the “California Rule” – the 70-year-old legal precedent that holds if public employee pension benefits are reduced, a benefit of similar value should be provided in return.
At issue was Alameda County’s decision to eliminate pay and benefit items (standby pay, cash payments in lieu of health care) from current employees’ pension calculations. CAPS members and other state employees are not eligible to use these items toward their retirement, but given the potential scope of the Court’s decision, members could be impacted by any modification of the California Rule. In its decision, the Court left the California Rule largely intact. The Court decided the case on narrower grounds, holding that the specific pay items at issue for the county employees can be eliminated. The Court also re-affirmed that changes to a pension plan can be made, but held that if those changes result in an overall net disadvantage to employees (in other words, are not “offset” by a comparable new advantage), then the Court will closely scrutinize “whether the legislative body’s purpose in making the changes was sufficient . . . to justify an impairment of pension rights.”
Though the Court’s decision did not overturn the California Rule, CAPS is dedicated to fighting for its members to ensure that pension benefits promised upon hire are kept.
News Briefs.
Court bans “abusive” spiking, but sticks with pension protections – In a case filed by the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, the California State Supreme Court found that the Alameda County’s pension board was within its rights to exclude certain forms of bonus pay and overtime when determining the future pension calculations of current employees.
But the court stopped short of out-and-out nixing “the California Rule,” a string of legal decisions that for nearly 70 years have been understood to protect against reducing pension benefits promised to public employees unless they are replaced with something of equal value.
Biologists look to hunters, public, for help discovering elk hoof disease – California wildlife biologists are hoping hunters and the general public will help them identify potential cases of crippling hoof disease in Roosevelt elk to allow further study. In a recent presentation to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, California Department of Fish and Wildlife veterinarian Emma Lantz said the disease was discovered in April in two Roosevelt elk from a resident herd in Del Norte County.
Opinion: The Janus decision has been less consequential than many anticipated – In 2018, the United States Supreme Court’s Janus decision held that government employees could not be forced to pay fees to a union if they weren’t members. So far, the decision appears to have had little effect. The percentage of government workers who belong to unions has gone from 26.4 percent to 25.6 percent (federal); 28.6 percent to 29.4 percent (state); and 40.3 percent to 39.4 percent (local).
Public urged to avoid water contact at Pyramid Lake due to algal bloom – An algal bloom at Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County has the Department of Water Resources (DWR) warning the public not to swim or participate in any other water-contact recreation or sporting activities due to potential adverse health effects.