Family Leave

"GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR RETIRING OR RETIRED MEMBERS--The County of Orange Superior Court seeks attorneys to serve as Hearing Officers for Riese Petitions (capacity hearings) at designated psychiatric inpatient facilities. To qualify, applicants must be admitted to the California Bar but may not be currently practicing. Payment is $100 per hearing. For more information or to request an application, contact Mary Malk at (714) 935-6062 or email mmalk@occourts.org"

I have been asked many questions regarding retirement, especially since the acceptance and adoption of the new contract for 2004 - 2007. Therefore, I wrote a letter to the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) to get clarification as to how the "Ventura" decision applies to our Association. The following is a reproduction of the pertinent parts of my letter and the OCERS reply which is reprinted with the permission of representatives of OCERS.

For purposes of the "Ventura" decision, can you please tell me if the following items are included?

1.      80 hours of annual leave/vacation time per year

2.      96 hours of sick time per year

3.      3 hours of compensatory time per year

Also,

Is Search Warrant Duty (special duty pay) included as compensation earnable for District Attorneys?

                            The Answers

Based upon a cursory review of your MOU I submit the following answers to your inquiry:

1         *Annual Leave/Vacation - a maximum of 80 hours per year would be included

2        *Sick Leave - a maximum of 96 hours per year would be included (ONLY APPLICABLE TO THOSE HIRED ON OR BEFORE 7/15/77)

3         Compensatory Time - 2 hours awarded in the spring (the only other comp time that would apply would be a members regular day off that falls on a paid holiday)

4         Special Duty Pay is a premium pay element and would be included in compensation earnable.



* For members to have these two pay items included in their compensation earnable they must meet one of the following conditions:

1. Actually cash in the hours during the measuring period

                                OR

2. Leave the requisite number of hours on the books so that they are       available at the end of the measuring period.

If any member has additional questions, OCERS has indicated to me that they will be happy to address the issues of our association. Please feel free to write me with your inquiries.

Sincerely,

Christopher Kralick

President