Important update for CSTs, Sr. CSTs and CSAs

Dear CST, Sr. CST and CSA,

We wanted to give you a quick update on two major issues that OCEA and your steward leadership have been able to successfully resolve with the Sheriff’s Department Command Staff and the County of Orange. These issues are items that we have been working on for more than three years to improve the ability for employees to promote within the department and to be paid overtime in a prompt manner.

Following negotiations, OCEA, the Sheriff’s Department and the County entered into a side-letter agreement that amended our MOUs to match the same type of work periods for our CSAs, CSTs and Sr. CSTs that mirrors that of the deputies in the jails. This language will provide that overtime will be paid for any hours worked over 40 in a work week and divides the work periods into equal 7 day periods. This will make it so that overtime is paid out in a quicker manner and is easier for payroll to process. Overtime is still paid on hours worked, so any time taken off during that 7 day period will affect the 40 hour threshold. The additional MOU language reads as follows:

Section 1.A.4. shall be replaced by the following language:

4. Work Period for Correctional Services Employees

a. The official FLSA work period for Sheriff’s Correctional Services Assistant Trainees, Sheriff’s Correctional Services Assistants, and Correctional Services Technicians shall be 28 days and shall begin at 12 a.m. on each Friday and end at 12 a.m. four weeks later.

b. For purposes of payment of overtime under this MOU, each 28 day period shall be divided into four, seven (7) day periods, with overtime being paid for work ordered and performed in excess of the employee’s regularly scheduled work hours. The beginning and ending of the seven (7) day work period will begin each Friday and end the following Thursday.

c. An employee assigned to corrections who is designated as 207k exempt may request to trade his or her days of work for another employee's days of work provided both employees work in the same division, have the same classification and the days traded are within the same pay period. Should, as a direct result of such trades, either employee work more than forty (40) hours in a workweek, the hours in excess of forty (40) hours shall not be considered overtime. Except, all overtime work ordered and performed which would have been performed regardless of such trade shall be treated in accordance with Section 1.A.4.a., above.

1. An employee may request to trade his or her biannual, quarterly or monthly shift for another employee's biannual, quarterly or monthly shift provided both employees have the same work assignment and the request is made within two (2) weeks of posting of scheduled shift rotation.

Page 2 of 3

Trades under this provision shall require the written approval of the department.

Supervisory Management Unit - Article I, Section 1

Section 1.A.3. shall be replaced by the following language:

3. Work Period for Correctional Services Employees

a. The official FLSA work period for Sr. Correctional Services Technicians shall be 28 days and shall begin at 12 a.m. on each Friday and end at 12 a.m. four weeks later. 

b. For purposes of payment of overtime under this MOU, each 28 day period shall be divided into four, seven (7) day periods, with overtime being paid for work ordered and performed in excess of the employee’s regularly scheduled work hours. The beginning and ending of the seven (7) day work period will begin each Friday and end the following Thursday.

c. An employee assigned to corrections who is designated as 207k exempt may request to trade his or her days of work for another employee's days of work provided both employees work in the same division, have the same classification and the days traded are within the same pay period. Should, as a direct result of such trades, either employee work more than forty (40) hours in a workweek, the hours in excess of forty (40) hours shall not be considered overtime. Except, all overtime work ordered and performed which would have been performed regardless of such trade shall be treated in accordance with Section 1.A.4.a., above.

1. An employee may request to trade his or her biannual, quarterly or monthly shift for another employee's biannual, quarterly or monthly shift provided both employees have the same work assignment and the request is made within two (2) weeks of posting of scheduled shift rotation.

Trades under this provision shall require the written approval of the department.

In addition to this improvement, we were able to correct a long standing issue which is that CSAs who desire to promote to the SSO series will no longer have to take a pay reduction in order to become an SSO. This change was adopted at the Tuesday, Nov. 19 Board of Supervisors meeting. The SSO I pay scale is now the same as the CSA schedule, so if a CSA decides to move into the SSO classification they will not lose any pay. Additionally, CSAs or CSTs who move into the SSO series may use up to 12 months of experience as either a CST or CSA towards the two year requirement to promote to an SSO II. You can read the report from the Board of Supervisors here.

For those SSO Is or SSO IIs who had recently moved into the classification as a former CSA, their pay will be adjusted to meet the correct salary step on the new scale. PSD will be notifying those individuals of any changes. 

Finally, many of you have heard discussion of a possible merger of the CST and CSA classifications. These discussions are on-going, currently we do not have any specifics to share, but when/if we do, we will be sharing them with all of you. As of now, nothing will be changing until February of next year at the earliest and that date is not set at this point.

We want to thank everyone for their support and patience through what has been a long process. We are happy that we were able to resolve two major issues and look forward to continuing to fight to do what is necessary to improve the lives of you and your families.

Thank you,

OCEA Sheriff’s Team

Publication Date: November 25, 2019