June 14, 2019 UPDATE
On May 14, 2019, shortly after receiving the County’s package proposal, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association (“DSA”) declared impasse. May 14, 2019 was the parties’ sixth (6th) bargaining session.
On June 3, 2019, the County received the DSA’s request to the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to proceed to factfinding. Based on the timeline described under State law, PERB authorized this matter for fact-finding on June 7, 2019.
In the County’s May 14, 2019 package, the County proposed a package that included a 12.5% wage increase over the next 3 fiscal years. The specifics of the package are as follows:
- Term of the Agreement - 3 Years (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2022)
- Wages -
Year 1 – 3.0%
Year 2 – 2.5%
Year 3 – 2.5%
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Equity Adjustments
Represented employees in the Deputy Sheriff, Sheriff’s Sergeant, Deputy Sheriff Trainee, Coroner’s Investigator, District Attorney Investigator and Supervising District Attorney Investigator classifications to receive equity adjustments as follows:
Year 1 – 1.5%
Year 2 – 1.5%
Year 3 – 1.5%
Represented employees in the Welfare Fraud Investigators classification to receive an equity adjustment as follows:
Year 1 – 1.0%
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P.O.S.T. -
Advanced P.O.S.T. certificate incentive increase as follows:
Year 1 – From $475.00/month to $555.00/month
Year 3 – From $555.00/month to $575.00/month
Intermediate P.O.S.T. certificate incentive increase as follows:
Year 2 – From $325.00/month to $350.00/month
- Fringe Benefits – The County has proposed the following:
- Adjust its health insurance contribution in December of each year of the contract by 0-5% for the employee + 1 and employee + family plan levels when the premium increases to the County’s Kaiser S plan (or the County’s lowest cost HMO at the time).
- Freeze the employee-only biweekly fringe adjustment.
- Increase the salary threshold for fringe differentiation from $70,000 to $74,000 for plan year beginning January 2020.
- Cash Back – Similar to recent agreements with other labor units, the County has proposed to eliminate cash back of unused fringe benefits for the following:
- Employees hired on or after July 1, 2019,
- Employees who do not receive cash back as of July 1, 2019, and
- Employees who change their benefits in such a way that reduces/eliminates cash back will not be eligible for cash back in the future.
- Hold Harmless – The County has proposed to eliminate Hold Harmless payments for all represented employees by the end of the contract period.
- PORAC – In response to the Union’s proposal, the County has proposed to establish a PORAC Trust for retiree health savings to which represented employees may contribute.
- Overtime – The County will pay the regular rate of pay for the calculation of overtime in accordance with what is required under the Fair Labor Standards Act for work periods of 28 days.
- New Employee Orientation/Union Dues/Agency Fees – The County shall provide the Union written notice of county-wide new employee orientations, remit union dues and remove reference to agency shop fees in accordance with applicable state and federal laws.
- Pay for Legal Holidays – The County proposed a clean-up item that confirms employees must be in paid status the work day before and after a legal holiday in order to be paid for the legal holiday.
- Incorporate all previously-executed tentative agreements.
- Parties to withdraw all other proposals.
April 9, 2019 UPDATE
The County of Marin and DSA representatives conducted their fourth bargaining session on April 9. This was the final session for the County and DSA to pass initial proposals. The parties continue to discuss proposals and gather information.
The parties will return to the bargaining table on April 23 at 1:00 pm.