OCAA Members,
We have two upcoming holidays for September. Labor Day is on September 4 (Monday) and Native American Day is on September 22 (Friday). Our new MOU with the salary schedule for the next three years can be found on the County’s website at OCAA MOU and on OCAA.net here OCAA MOU
The Orange County Bar Association is holding their elections from Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, and close at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. The voting link will be emailed to you through the Orange County Bar Association. Your OCAA PAC met with both candidates for OCBA Secretary. This is an important position as it leads to the future President of OCBA. While both candidates are qualified and amazing individuals, your OCAA PAC’s recommendation is to vote for Eric Traut.
| Eric V. Traut Traut Firm |
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We are currently working with the County to ensure they create and have system in place for our members to submit their requests for reimbursements under the EPRP law school loan program (Page ATT – 48 of OCAA MOU). As we obtain more information, we will share it with you.
DID YOU KNOW ?
You can create an online account to manage your HRA account
Did you know you can sign up with Mission Square to have access to your Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)? The HRA is funded through a 2% contribution of each employee’s bi-weekly base salary. The contribution is composed of 1% from the employee and a 1% match from the County.
An HRA account can be used to pay for qualifying medical expenses typically including monthly premiums for insurance after a member retirees.
Once you sign up with an online account you can manage your account and even change your investment options. You can also set up a one-on-one consultation with a Retirement Plans Specialist. The general website and participant login are below:
General Website: https://www.missionsq.org/
Participant Login: https://accountaccess.icmarc.org/login.jsp
The information provided is general information and OCAA recommends seeking individual legal and/or financial advice prior to making any decisions.
Use Your Time!
Finally, as a continued reminder please remember the following codes on your timecard reset at the end of the fiscal year.
- Attorney Unit Leave aka Snivel, formerly Attorney Leave with Pay. 24 hours a year available to Attorney III who are not on probationary status and Attorney IV and higher who were required to work hours substantially above the norm for an extended period of time (Pages ATT- 26-27 of MOU).
- Personal Business Leave Elapsed aka PBL, 40 hours a year which is taken out of your available sick leave which can be used for any purpose. You must have the necessary hours available in your sick leave to use this time. (Page ATT- 21 of MOU).
- School Conferences and Events (Parent Child School Leave Elapse) a parent, legal guardian, or grandparent who has custody of child enrolled in a California public or private school, kindergarten through grade 12, or in a licensed day care facility, may use up to 10 hours of PTOs to attend school conferences and events. Any activity that is sponsored, supervised, or approved by the school, school board, or child care facility is acceptable. (Page ATT- 22 of MOU)
- Leave for Attendance at Professional Conferences an employee may request three (3) days (24 hours) Leave with pay each fiscal year for attendance at professional conferences subject to the following conditions: (1) a request made in advance in the manner prescribed by the department; (2) the conference is job related; (3) Costs connected with the conference attendance, including registration, meals, transportation and/or lodging if any, are not provided under Article IV Section 13 of the MOU; and (4) the employee’s performance is standard or above. There are limits to this provision which are found in the MOU. (Pages ATT- 31 – 32).
- Vacation Payout (discretionary payout of either two separate increments of 60 hours each or a single payout of 120 hours from your vacation bank. As a reminder your vacation caps out at 480 hours. After 480 hours you stop accruing vacation time (Pages ATT- 36 – 37 of MOU).
For you convenience our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) can be found here: OCAA MOU