New Month Added 16 hours of PLP 2020, Increased Vacation/Annual Leave Cap. Full time Unit 10 State Scientists have another 16 hours of PLP 2020 available for their use as of September 1, 2020. PLP 2020 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 September, the cap has increased by a total of 48 hours, to 688 hours.

Reminder: ATO for Mandatory Evacuations. Wildfires have been raging across large swathes of California for over a month, and they unfortunately continue across the state today.  Employees subject to mandatory evacuations or a state of emergency due to wildfires are eligible for Administrative Time Off (ATO), pursuant to California Code of Regulations 599.785.5, which allows employees to have up to five (5) days of ATO if any one of the following conditions are met: the employee’s normal place of business is temporarily closed during the employee’s normal work shift, due to the effects of the emergency; the emergency prevents the employee’s ability to find reasonable routes or transportation from the employee’s residence to the work place; the emergency presents an immediate and grave peril to the employee’s own safety, that of an employee’s immediate family member, or the employee’s principal residence; the employee is actively involved in a formal, organized effort to protect the health and safety of the general public (i.e. member of the auxiliary fire or police department or the employee is asked by local authorities to assist with sandbagging efforts); or finally, the employee needs to take time off to apply for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because the employee is unable to apply for assistance before or after the employee’s normal work shift.

Know Your Rights: Catastrophic Leave. CalHR Manual, Section 2116 permits Supervisory and Managerial CAPS members to transfer leave credits to colleagues when a natural disaster occurs, subject to the following conditions: “(1) Catastrophic leave for a natural disaster shall be leave for an employee who faces financial hardship because the employee has exhausted all of his/her eligible leave and is unable to work due to the effect of the natural disaster on the employee’s principal residence. (2) The employee resides in one of the counties where a state of emergency exists as declared by the Governor. (3) Eligible leave credits include annual leave, vacation, CTO and/or holiday leave credits. They do not include sick leave.” If you are in need of Catastrophic Leave, first contact your Department, then contact CAPS (caps@capsscientists.org), so we can share your request with the more than 3,000 State Scientists that make up our union. Stay safe out there.

News Briefs. 

California lawmakers approve ban on popular rat poison that can kill mountain lions – A bill that seeks to protect mountain lions and other wildlife from being poisoned by a popular form of pesticide awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. On August 31, the California Legislature approved Assembly Bill 1788, which bans, with few exceptions, the use of what are known as “second generation anticoagulant rodenticides” until state regulators develop standards to ensure the chemicals do not harm wildlife.

Election 2020: Meet the candidates for 2 wards up for grabs in Eureka – CAPS Board Member Scott Bauer explains why he is among five candidates running for the Ward 4 open seat on the Eureka City Council.  CAPS has formally endorsed Bauer’s candidacy.

DEA: Someone Smuggled Marijuana ‘Crude Oil’ From Mexico Into California-Judge Orders State To Tell Feds Who – A federal judge last week ordered California state cannabis regulators to turn over to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration records related to an alleged international marijuana-oil trafficking scheme, according to court records.