SAVE THE DATE

Dates: Monday, December 29th, 2025, and Tuesday, December 30th, 2025. 

Registration will open on Monday, November 3rd, 2025, and it will close on Friday, December 12th, 2025. 

Information on registration and the specific program is forthcoming. 

Should you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact Alexandra Molina at alexandra.molina@cseainc.org or at 1-800-342-4146, extension 1290

This is 1st VP Matt Carpenter and Delegate Kelly Giuliano.

They are using their vision benefit before it expires at the end of the year.

They are smart.

Be like Matt and Kelly.

Fellow Members:

Our local and CSEA, want to stress that anyone doing any work for the court system, or any court related program such as Outreach or Workfares, are to be paid. There is no such thing as “volunteering” without being compensated. Whether it is after hours or on the weekend. Especially those in uniform. Any questions, please reach out to me or any Local 333 executive board member. Thanks – Dave

The Albany Tunnel to Towers Climb at the Corning Tower saw participants ascend 42 stories to honor the heroes of September 11, 2001, while raising funds for fallen and injured first responders, veterans, and their families.

NYS Court Officer Eric Potts of Schenectady’s Southern Command, and member of CSEA Local 333, represented his profession in full uniform, paying tribute to Court Officers Captain Harry Thompson, Sgt. Mitchel Wallace, and Sgt. Thomas Jurgens, who gave their lives 24 years ago. 

For the third year in a row, Officer Potts placed first in the Law Enforcement category.

Congratulations to him on this amazing achievement!

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.

To honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you can wear pink to spark conversations, schedule or remind loved ones about mammograms or display a pink ribbon to raise awareness about the importance of prevention and routine screening for the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

And if you’re a court officer, you can wear this patch to show support in the month of October.

The link is below.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144918711185

CSEA is holding a Zoom meeting October 7th at 6pm for all Court Security Series members. That includes Trainees up to Major.

Anyone interested, please read below…

Dear UCS Bargaining Unit Member: CSEA would like to invite you to join an informational Zoom session on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 6pm.

Below is the link to join the meeting:

https://zoom.us/j/93861343943

This is a great opportunity to meet with all of the UCS Local Presidents and some staff representatives to discuss several current topics that are important and relevant to the Court Officer/Security title series represented by CSEA within the NYS Unified Court System.

The topics discussed will include:

• Overview of contract related benefits and upcoming negotiations
• Firearms: Overview of legal challenges pursued over the last 15 years and next steps
• Retirement legislation
• Decertification Q&A

CSEA Local Presidents:

• Kevin Mahler, Local 332, Region 3
• Ian Spencer, Local 334, Region 5
• Bill Hart, Local 335, Region 6
• Dave DeJesus, Local 333, Region 4
• Nicole Ventresca-Cohen, Local 694, Region 4
• Lanielle Roach, Local 010, Region 2
• Larry Germano, Local 330, Region 1

CSEA Staff Representatives:

• Carisa Guild, Deputy Director of State Operations
• Daren Rylewicz, General Counsel & Director of Legal Services
• Josh Terry, Director of Political Action
• Alex Molina, Contract Administration Specialist

Local 333 will be moving its office to Malta. Information will be coming soon!

Dave has changed his contact number. Effective immediately, you can reach him at 518-410-4944.

All members should be aware of the Court System’s social media policy. Please speak to a supervisor for information if you are unaware of this policy.

Members should not use UCMS or any other court computer programs for personal reasons, whether for themselves or family, friends, et cetera. It is a violation of court policy and is subject to discipline.

Speak to a supervisor about court policy, reference the Employee Handbook, Rules of the Chief Judge, et cetera. We believe it is the responsibility of management to provide court policy detail to its employees, but members have the right to seek guidance from their supervisors if unaware of court policies.