Fellow OCAA members,
We wanted to update you on the status of our litigation with the County. As we indicated to you in November, we believe the county has negotiated with us in bad faith and has unlawfully imposed our current terms and conditions of employment. We filed two separate legal actions against the county: one is proceeding in the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB), and the other is in the OC Superior Court. Below is a brief update on the status of both.
PERB
At the end of October, the evidentiary portion of our trial in PERB was completed. At the conclusion of the trial, the administrative law judge presiding over the proceeding ordered that both parties (OCAA and the County of Orange) file closing briefs on February 5, 2014. The County asked for and received a two week continuance to file its brief. As a result, both parties filed their closing briefs on February 19, 2014. The briefs are available on our website (http://ocaa.net). Please do not print the briefs at work. The administrative law judge will issue a written decision, and we hope to have that decision within the next couple months. As soon as we receive the decision, we will notify you.
Superior Court
We also filed a writ in the OC Superior Court last spring that exclusively challenged the county imposing an increase in our pension contributions. We believe the imposition of increased pension contributions violated the Public Employee Pension Reform Act (PEPRA). That case was set for hearing on February 14, 2014. However, the judge hearing that case (Judge Colaw) indicated that he needed more time to read the briefs. As a result, that case is now set for a hearing on March 21, 2014. These briefs are also available on our website. Once again, please do not print the briefs at work. We hope to have a decision on this case on March 21. As soon as we receive the decision, we will notify you.
Please continue to check the website for updates on the status of our litigation.