1. Update on Reallocation for Court Attorney Referee and MHLS Attorney
a. Currently, there are no updates. There is currently no issue with recruitment for these
positions; however, the recent passing of the federal Bill may cause issues with their
budget. The impact will not be known fully until October.
b. According to recent data, CAR positions have a 33% higher growth rate than non-judicial
positions. There are currently 87 positions. Over a 10-year period, there have been 15
retirements and 6 resignations. UCS doesn’t believe there is a recruitment problem with
this title, and they are only reallocating titles with recruitment problems such as the
Interpreter series.
**ACTION ITEM** CSEA Requests similar data on the CAR and MHLS Attorney positions. UCS provided
the information below:
According to the data received from UCS, CAR positions have a 33% higher growth rate than non-judicial
positions. There are currently 87 positions. Over a 10-year period, there have been 15 retirements and 6
resignations. UCS doesn’t believe there is a recruitment problem with this title, and they are only
reallocating titles with recruitment problems such as the Interpreter series.
Classification Unit cannot provide the same type of data for the CARs for Clerical Assistants and the MHLS
Attorney series because the CARs are basically stand-alone positions, i.e., not likely to “promote” or
otherwise move to other positions, gathering/analyzing the data was straightforward. This is not the case
for Clerical Assistant or the MHLS Attorney series since people in these positions often promote to other
titles [which is something that the Classification Plan is premised on, i.e., mobility/movement of
employees to higher titles]. They did say that there are pockets of the state where we have trouble getting
Clerical Assistants but it’s not a pervasive issue across the state … and for MHLS attorneys, they don’t view folks promoting out to the trial courts as a recruitment/retention issue – it’s impossible to discern whether
the reason is simply salary based or based on the difficultly of working in MHLS, in general, or some
combination of both.
Below is the number of test takers/test passers (for Clerical Assistant) and the number of Clerical Assistants
and MHLS Attorneys in SEA’s bargaining unit for the last 5 years.
Note: Clerical Assistant was first created in 2018 so the first exam was in 2019
Exam
Open Competitive
Year Applicants Test Takers Passers
2019 9569 7531 5138
2024 4902 3062 2107
Promotional
Year Applicants Test Takers Passers
2019 187 97 62
2024 97 15 4
Clerical Assistants (JG-12) in CSEA:
4/1/21-513
4/1/22-587
4/1/23-599
4/1/24-580
4/1/25-512
MHLS Attorney Series in CSEA:
Title 4/1/21 4/1/22 4/1/23 4/1/24 4/1/25
Assistant Attorney (JG-21) 0 0 1 2 4
Attorney (JG-23) 8 3 1 4 11
Senior Attorney (JG-26) 29 31 42 24 17
Associate Attorney (JG-28) 59 54 54 66 75
Principal Attorney (JG-31) 61 63 56 58 59
Deputy Chief Attorney (JG-32) 7 6 6 6 6
Total 164 157 160 160 172
The stats for Court Assistant (JG-16) ; (Clerical assistants often promote to this title):
4/1/2021-458
4/1/2022-487
4/1/2023-553
4/1/2024-610
4/1/2025-708
2. Clerical Title Series Reallocation
a. UCS is reviewing the data to determine if there is a recruitment issue in the Clerical Series
that warrants reallocation. The Clerical Assistant (JG-12) was identified as a possible
target. CSEA suggests a possible traineeship from JG-12 to JG-14 to help make these
positions more desirable. UCS is open to the idea and is willing to consider it.
**ACTION ITEM** CSEA Requests similar data on the Clerical and Court Assistant positions. See the
information provided on bullet point #1.
3. Testing Issues and Process for Registering Concerns
a. It is possible that many issues are linked to people not following the emailed instructions
completely, due to the amount of information sent to them for this test. UCS will look into
ways to make the testing instructions clearer.
4. Probation Term and Evaluation
a. A DCJS memo from 1992 states that Support Magistrates do not serve probation. UCS
believes that they should, but this was never communicated to Human Resources. Per
Judge Rules, if a probation is to be extended, the employee should be moved or the
assigned supervisor should be changed to give the employee an opportunity to succeed.
**ACTION ITEM** UCS to provide communication rescinding the probation extension to the Support
Magistrate in question. UCS rescinded the probation extension.
b. A letter should be issued to the employees regarding the rules of their probation. This
letter should be provided by Human Resources. Probation is automatically extended for
employees on leave for 20+ days.
5. Promotion and Transfers
a. UCS selects an eight-person panel to interview and select the candidate to be promoted.
These selections are based on the applicants’ qualifications and experience. CSEA asked
for additional information on how a candidate can improve their chances, but UCS is
hesitant to release any communications regarding the details of the selection process.
b. Employees are entitled to decline a transfer or change their mind after it has been granted
within a reasonable period of time.
6. Court Officers Graduates Assignments
a. DPS allocates recruits based on district’s needs. After assignments are decided, trainees
are informed within one week of their start date.
b. CSEA suggested an assignment program similar to that of DOCCS, where a trainee will be
guaranteed posting within a requested area. UCS is open to this idea as it will potentially
increase recruitment numbers.
7. Overtime Assignment
a. The issues will be addressed during negotiations, and the grievance will be settled.
8. Sick Leave Bank
a. UCS proposed a side letter to resolve the issue and allow employees returning to the
bargaining unit to have their Sick Bank participation reinstated without having to reapply
within a period. The parties agreed to modified the side letter to reflect this arrangement.
**ACTION ITEM** UCS to send a draft of the proposed side letter. Fully executed side letter is included
for reference.
9. IG Communication Process
a. UCS stated that IG compliance is voluntary for employees not subject of the investigation.
CSEA will address the communications concerns during negotiations.
10. Nassau Supreme Court and Central Islip Cooling
a. It is the employer’s responsibility to monitor and maintain safe working conditions. UCS
will send an email to managers advising them of the protocol and requirements under the
contract .
11. Glen Cove and Long Beach CSEA Court Officers- Unresolved Issue
a. At Glen Cove, there are only two positions, and when leave is approved, UCS has the
Supreme Court employees provide the coverage. UCS believes this was the best solution
to allow employees to utilize leave accruals. CSEA recommended having other JDs cover
for those absences and UCS is willing to consider it.
b. At Long Beach, they have one employee on leave, and UCS has historically had other
employees provide coverage at this location.
12. Dress Code
a. UCS’s move of some Departments to the Patroon Creek Boulevard Building makes the
office public facing. As such, UCS requested enforcement of the dress code contained in
the contract. Clothing should be clean, appropriate to the job at hand, and professional.
**ACTION ITEM** UCS will provide revised dress code for review. CSEA and UCS agreed to deviate from
the contract with respect to jeans and casual athletic sneakers in certain instances based on job function
until contract negotiators propose changes/ formalize changes.
13. Court Officer Retirement
a. UCS shared with CSEA their intent to support Legislation to improve the retirement
benefits of Court Officers, and they asked for feedback from CSEA. CSEA expressed an
interest in pursuing these changes and requested UCS’s justification.
**ACTION ITEM** CSEA Requests Why and What changes will they be pursuing in this legislation
14. Redistricting Feedback
a. CSEA has not had a chance to review the information provided. Overall, we feel that
redistricting will be beneficial as it will create additional job opportunities.
15. Telecommuting
a. The telecommuting schedule has been going well, and UCS is open to expanding the
opportunity. They would like to hold off on looking at the compressed work schedule until
September to allow time for the Telecommuting Program to be in place and functioning
as intended.
The next Labor/Management meeting is scheduled for November 20, 2025.