Fellow OCAA members,
We hope your summer is going well. We want to update you on some changes that will be implemented in the next few weeks.
1) MOU Amendments
On July 12 the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the amendments to our MOU relating to the accrual of vacation for members with less than three years of service and cashing out vacation. Please see the April update for details on these amendments.
The changes to how vacation hours accrue for members with less than three years of service will go into effect starting with pay period 16 (which begins July 22). The pro rata share of the 80 hours of vacation that you had to wait for one year to have access to before the MOU was changed will appear on your August 12 paycheck. However, those hours will be available for you to use during pay period 16.
2) Health Retirement Account
The HRA went into effect beginning July 8, meaning starting with the paycheck you receive on July 29 you will see a pre-tax contribution of 1% into the HRA (and the County contributes an additional 1%). If you were hired by the County prior to November 2006, information about the program was mailed to your home by the County and the company administering the program, ICMA-RC. Those hired after November 2006 will receive the mailings from the county and ICMA-RC soon. There is an informational meeting about the program scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, from 12:00-1:00 in the Board Hearing Room in the Hall of Administration. We encourage everyone to attend this meeting if you have any questions about the HRA.
3) OCERS Contribution Rates
Every year around this time our retirement contributions are adjusted by OCERS. Attached to this email is a chart with those changes. 2.7% at 55 employees are in Plan J and PEPRA employees are in Plan U. All members will see a slight decrease to your contributions for this fiscal year. On average OCAA members will see close to or slightly over a 1% decrease in your contribution rate, meaning that the HRA contribution should have little to no impact on your take home pay.
Please feel free to contact an OCAA board member if you have any questions or concerns about any of the upcoming changes.
OCAA Board