(Susan Radosh, CSEA Dep. Director of State Operations, July 29, 2019)

EXCUSED LEAVE TO VOTE IN THE JUNE 25^th PRIMARY 

(CSEA Received this information this afternoon, June 21st, from OCA.  Please direct all inquiries to your supervisor or district office.)

The New York State Election Law was recently amended to provide all employees, whether full or part-time, up to three hours of paid leave in order to vote in any general election, special election called by the Governor, primary election, or municipal election, excluding school or library elections.  

This paid leave applies to the primary elections being held on Tuesday.

In order to be eligible for paid leave to vote on Tuesday, an employee must be actively registered to vote. Travel time is included in the three hours. Any absence beyond the three-hour maximum must be charged to the employee’s leave credits.  Employees should notify their manager/supervisor as soon as possible if they will require time off to vote in Tuesday’s elections.  Employees already scheduled to be out on any type of approved leave on Tuesday, or that call in sick, may vote on their own time and are not entitled to charge any portion of their absence to excused leave.  

Employees can be required to take this paid leave either at the beginning or end of their regular shift, as determined by the appropriate Deputy Chief Administrative Judge (Courts Within or Outside New York City).  Court managers/supervisors and employees will be notified shortly of this determination.

Employees must furnish proof of active voter registration in order to substantiate the use of excused leave, i.e. copy of voter registration card or online voter registration status, correspondence from Board of Elections.  Such proof may be provided in advance of the leave or upon the employee’s return to work.  In no event shall an employee disclose political party affiliation or enrollment, i.e. this information must be redacted by the employee. Employees may access their voter registration status online at https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/

(Susan Radosh, CSEA Dep. Director of State Operations, April 8, 2019)

CSEA met with the Office of Court Administration on Thursday, April 4 to discuss their offer of a one-year extension, from 2020-2021, of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The CSEA negotiating team includes Donald Lynskey, Kevin Mahler, Nicole Ventresca-Cohen, Scott Gartland, Diane Hansen,  Vincent Martusciello, and Robert Pazik.  Discussions are scheduled to continue in mid-May.

CIVIL SERVICE – “OPT OUT” PROGRAM – ERRONEOUS NOTIFICATION

CSEA was recently informed by UCS that “the Department of Civil Service has generated notices confirming enrollees’ ‘Opt-Out’ for the 2019 Plan year, which are erroneous as the 2019 Option Transfer Period has not yet occurred.

“As we are not yet sure whether Civil Service will be sending anything out to enrollees notifying them of this error, please ensure that your members are aware that they must re-enroll in the ‘Opt-Out’ Program for 2019 even if they received one of these letters.

“Any questions regarding health benefits should be made to your local Health Benefits Administrator.”

CSEA-UCS SICK LEAVE BANK INFORMATION

The Sick Leave Bank (SLB) was established through contract negotiations to cover illness, injury or disease that would require the employee to be out of work for an extended period of time while maintaining their pay status and health insurance.

Once an employee becomes eligible (having eight days of accrued sick leave on the books by open enrollment period, usually in April of every year), they would be eligible to draw from the bank for an illness, injury or disease, once they have exhausted all other leave accruals. Approval of said time is required by the SLB Committee. The SLB Committee consists of one management representative and one union representative. A unanimous vote on each grant is required, and there is no appeal process. Once your grant is approved, it can be renewed for additional periods of time as needed, up to a maximum of 229 days or 1603 hours. Each renewal also requires SLB Committee approval.

Though you may be a member of the SLB, it is important to note that not all situations will qualify for a grant, which is why it is so important to save your accruals, especially sick leave. Sick Leave can also be used at retirement to help offset health insurance premiums and add to your service credit. Please also note that minor illness, injury or disease requiring a short period of absence from work are generally covered by your personal accrued leave. Travel is not permitted during the SLB grant time unless it is related to the injury/illness/disease (ex: obtaining a second opinion or seeing a specialist from another area).

The SLB exists to help those who encounter unforeseen illnesses, injuries or disease and, to that end, the Committee has an obligation of making sure grants are given to the members it was created to help while also looking out for the interests of the other bank members.

We strongly encourage all members to join upon eligibility as the SLB acts as an insurance policy, hopefully one that you will never have to use, but if you do, it will be there.