OCAA Members,
Happy New Year to everyone. As a reminder, we have Mondays January 1, 2024 and January 15, 2024 off work as holidays.
Per our new MOU, your bar fees and OCBA memberships are paid by the County. Please check with your individual Office and follow any necessary protocols to facilitate those payments. If you would like to join a specific section of OCBA, those expenses should be reimbursable through the EPRP program which is processed through OC Meter.
REPORTING STATE BAR CLIENT TRUST ACCOUNT PROTECTION PROGRAM
Unless exempted, you are required to log onto the State Bar Website and complete a Client Trust Account Protection Program reporting and Registration by February 1, 2024. This is separate from MCLE certification and is required of everyone regardless of MCLE compliance group. Please check with your individual Office if you have questions about how to properly complete this form.
REPORTING MCLE COMPLIANCE
Attorneys with last names beginning with the letters H-M need to report their MCLE Compliance. Group 2 (H-M) Attorneys with last names beginning with H-M have a compliance period of 2/1/21-1/31/24 and have a deadline to report of February 1, 2024. Those Attorneys will be able to report their compliance between December 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024. Your MCLE Requirements can be found on the State Bar Website (https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/MCLE-CLE/Requirements)
STATE BAR COMPLAINTS
An unfortunate consequence of our employment is the occasional complaint made against one of our members to the State Bar by a client or opposing party. If you receive a letter from the state bar requesting information from you, it is your responsibility to properly respond and cooperate. You may be required to inform your Office of any State Bar investigation, and your Office may assist you by hiring an attorney who specializes in state bar complaints. Also, please reach out to an OCAA representative, as we are also able to assist by hiring a specialized attorney as well, if needed. We have assisted numerous members with these frivolous complaints 2023 and have noticed a rise in these frivolous complaints. Regardless if you reach out to OCAA or not, please hold onto hard copies of all documentation and correspondence to the state bar.
Use Your Time!
Finally, as a continued reminder please remember the following codes on your timecard reset at the end of the fiscal year which means it must be used no later than pay period #13 (May 31, 2023 to June 13, 2023). These provisions do not rollover.
- 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