CSEA/UCS LABOR MANAGEMENT
Judiciary Local Presidents and Representatives from OCA met on Thursday, December 7th in Albany. Several topics important to members were discussed as follows:
TELECOMMUTING POLICY – We were very happy to learn that OCA has set up a management team to draft a pilot telecommuting policy. CSEA had presented them with Executive branch telecommuting agreements as well as other proposals in the past that are being reviewed and considered. We were notified that it could be a few months before a draft is ready, as the budget season begins in January and is a priority for UCS. OCA has agreed to sit down as soon as possible to discuss the program once they have completed their draft. We are happy to see that the UCS sees the importance in having this option available for our members. We have also requested that OCA consider granting compressed work weeks and flex schedules while preparing their draft telecommuting program, in order to provide some flexibility for our members. Alternate work schedules like compressed workweeks will also provide some choices for job titles that may not lend themselves to telecommuting. Of course, we will update everyone once we have more to share on this important topic.
PAID PARENTAL LEAVE – OCA’s requested budget that goes to the State Legislature and Governor is historically large. Among the additional funding requested, is money to provide a Paid Parental Leave benefit to employees. OCA and CSEA will sit down again in mid-December to negotiate a policy. Our hope is to have this policy negotiated and effective by April 2024. We will be requesting retroactivity similar to that in the Executive Branch agreement.
COMP TIME SETTLEMENT – CSEA filed comp time grievances at the beginning of the COVID shut down of the courts and while the courts were virtual and not in person; CSEA was the only Court union to file such grievances. Approximately 500 attestations were submitted to OCA, and they are in the final stages of review with regard to those attestations. OCA has indicated that some submissions included weekends and holidays and those discrepancies will need to be explained by the members. OCA is hopeful that this process will be completed in early 2024. Though we do not have a definitive date as to when you can expect to see your comp time credited, we will let you know as soon as we do. We appreciate your patience in this matter.
COURT OFFICER- SGT EXAM
Open-filing for examination NYS Court Officer-Sergeant 55-833 began at 10 AM on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 and ends Wednesday, December 13, 2023. The exam is scheduled to be held on Saturday, March 16, 2024. The examination application is available at http://ww2.nycourts.gov/careers/exams.shtml. The examination announcements and study material links are posted on the webpage. NYS Court Officer-Trainees are not qualified to take the Sergeant exam. However, should a Trainee anticipate appointment to the NYS Court Officer title on or before March 16, 2024, that Trainee should apply for the exam during the open-filing period as exam applications will not be accepted after December 13, 2023.
Applicant questions may be directed to UnifiedCourtSystemExam@nycourts.gov .
COURT RECESS VIRTUAL TRAINING
Meeting links for the Court Recess Training will be sent on Friday, December 22nd to the employee’s personal email address.
In the 2021-2026 contract, CSEA negotiated a new benefit which allows employees represented by CSEA to participate (from home), in Union sponsored training for up to two days during the court recess and receive paid leave without charge to personal accruals to cover the training. CSEA will offer morning and afternoon training on December 27 and 28, 2023 beginning at 9am, with a lunch break in between. If you wish to take advantage of this new benefit, you must provide a personal email as well as use your personal electronic device (not court equipment) to attend. You may attend one or both days of training. If your court/work location does not “officially” follow the court recess and you are not forced to take two days off during that week, you are still allowed to attend the CSEA trainings without charge to your personal accruals for those day/days, subject to manager’s approval. This benefit is only available to employees within the CSEA bargaining unit.
In order to participate please download the fillable form below, complete it and send it to surinda.singh@cseainc.org by Wednesday, December 20, 2023. More information can also be found on the form.
Download the fillable registration form here.
Be sure to check your emails and receivers be sure to post and/or share all information. Note that if you have not received a personal email, CSEA does not have an address on file for you. You can fix that issue by contacting CSEA member solutions at 1-800-342-4146. We hope to see many of you take advantage of this great benefit that was negotiated for you during our last round of contract negotiations.
LIGHTS ON THE LAKE 2023 – TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE
Lights on The Lake is New York’s premier drive-through holiday light show. Every year our brothers and sisters from CSEA Local 834 proudly setup and maintain two miles of breathtaking displays for all to enjoy. Once again this year, CSEA Local 334 would like to offer our members complimentary passes to enjoy the display. We ask that you RSVP to ian@csealocal334.com and include your name, member # and mailing address by 12/16/22, one ticket per member please. This year’s tickets will be good for one time use any night. Get yours while they are here, tickets are being distributed on a first come, first served basis.
MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS
Several of you have indicated in the last few weeks that you do not know your member numbers and/or have provided the Local with your EBF ID# when your member ID was necessary. Member ID’s generally begin with the 123 number series, EBF ID’s generally will begin with 055. If you do not know your member number please contact CSEA member solutions at 1-(800)-342-4146. If you do not know your EBF ID# please call CSEA EBF at 1-(518)-782-1500. Once you have those numbers, that are specific to you, I strongly encourage all members to download the MyCSEA app in order to always have your information at your fingertips. Links for apple and android are listed below.