SACRAMENTO -On June 15, 2022, the CSLEA Bargaining Team and CalHR reached agreement on a Public Safety Recognition Payment.

The CSLEA Team is comprised of President Alan Barcelona, Senior Vice President Tina Brazil, Unit A Vice President Dr. Kenneth Ehrman, Unit B Vice President Tom Ineichen, Chief Counsel Kasey Clark and Senior Legal Counsel Ryan Navarre.

The $1,500 benefit is in recognition of the important work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued service by all classifications in Bargaining Unit 7 - Protective Services & Public Safety, and is payable regardless of whether the employee performed work at their work site, in the field or predominantly via telework, provided they otherwise meet the eligibility criteria.

The criteria require employment with the State on January 1, 2022 and employment by the State upon the first day of the pay period following ratification of the Side Letter which would be on July 1, 2022.

CSLEA is the only bargaining unit thus far to receive this benefit for both peace office and non-peace officer employees regardless of whether they performed in-person work.

Although the parties have been characterizing bargaining over pandemic-related pay since the June 10, 2021 side letter was negotiated, the State elected to use its allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds on other authorized needs. The benefit that will be issued to eligible Unit 7 employees will be from a different funding source but still in recognition for pandemic-related work.

"Once again, I am pleased to see that this administration understands the value of the services all of the classifications in Unit 7 provide," said CSLEA President Barcelona. "This expands upon the benefits we were able to negotiated during the pandemic, including an increase in longevity pay for peace officers, bilingual pay, and making the recruitment and retention benefit includable for the retirement pensions of DSH HPO's and DDS PO's."

The side letter is subject to approval of the CSLEA Board of Directors which has the item on its agenda for a regularly scheduled meeting on June 29. CalHR has begun processing the benefit and it is hoped employees will receive it in the July pay period or the August period at the latest. A copy of the tentative agreement may be viewed at the following link:  TENTATIVE AGREEMENT