Meeting Date: November
4, 2004
Board Members Present: Shelley Smith (President),
Mary Dennis (Vice-President), Judith Reel (Secretary), Marsha
Berkowitz (Civil Director), Lisa Berger (Proprietary Director),
Rosemary Chavez (Criminal Director), Terri Siegel (Criminal Director)
SEIU Local 347 Representative Present:
Bob Hunt (General Counsel)
I. Old Business
A. MOU Negotiation Update
Board members on the MOU bargaining team, assisted
by SEIU, Local 347, continued to meet with City Attorney management
to discuss ways to ensure career advancement for attorneys intending
to have a career in the Office. We believe that these discussions
have been productive. We have now resumed meeting
with City management, in addition to City Attorney management,
to see if we can reach agreement on the specifics details of our
next MOU.
B. Board Election
The following submitted petitions to run for open
seats on the Board: Bob Cramer for First Vice-President; Jule
Bishop for Treasurer; Kimberly Willis for Criminal Director; and
Phil Sugar for Civil Director. There were no contested seats
and accordingly, with one exception, the Board voted to approve
the seating of the persons submitting petitions without the need
or expense of formal balloting. The Board voted to consider
the issue of seating Ms. Willis at its next meeting; we understand
that Ms. Willis may be transferring to an assignment in the Civil
Section, and we need to consider the effect on a Criminal or Civil
representative of transferring to the other section. Phil
Sugar agreed to attend City meetings pertaining to the retirement
system.
II. New Business
A. Workers= Compensation
Doctor Designation
Under former law, an employee injured at work could
designate, after the injury, the treating physician. Under
a new workers= compensation scheme now in effect, employees wishing
to be treated by their own personal physicians for a work-related
injury must now pre-designate the physician. If an
injured employee does not predesignate a doctor, the City will
send the employee to a City doctor for treatment.
Employees insured by Kaiser and desiring treatment by a Kaiser
doctor must submit a form designating Kaiser as the treating entity;
the employee does not have to identify any particular Kaiser doctor.
All other employees must designate the name of their treating
doctor, and must obtain the doctor=s signature on a form to be
filed with the City.
A copy of the form required for pre-designating a doctor can be
obtained from the Personnel Department website as follows:
1. go to http://insidela.ci.la.ca.us/
2. click on Personnel under the section entitled Departmental
Intranet;
3. at the top of the Personnel Mission Statement click on
the link to Workers Compensation; and
4. click on the link entitled: Predesignated Physician Form.
A copy of the form can also be downloaded at SEIU, Local 347's
website [www.seiu347.org]. If you do obtain the form from
this website, make sure you locate the form applicable to ALA
Workers.@ SEIU, Local 347 members working for other employers
use a different form.
B. LACERS
The Board discussed the recent newspaper articles
concerning Shelley Smith and the LACERS Board. Shelley Smith
discussed the sequence of events and expressed gratitude for the
support shown by many City employees. The Board also reviewed
materials issued by LACERS on this issue and found the materials
provide a clear explanation. The LACERS information can
be viewed at its web-site [www.lacers.org] with the link entitled:
FAQs Regarding LACERS Contract with DFA.
C. Bereavement Leave
The Administrative Code requires employees seeking
bereavement leave to present proof of death to justify the absence.
The Office, acting in response to concerns about audits of compliance
with this requirement, began asking employees seeking bereavement
leave to present proof of death. The Union raised concerns
about this practice, and the Office has agreed that identifying
on the AComments@ section of the time sheet the relationship of
the person who passed away shall satisfy the proof requirement.
D. Subpoena Request
Bob Hunt advised the Board on the status of a subpoena
issued to the Association by an outside law firm representing
the City in litigation. The subpoena seeks access to certain
grievance records. The Association has filed objections
with the outside law firm and begun informal discussions to resolve
the issue. If the subpoena is not withdrawn, the Association
is prepared to litigate the issue and is also ready to commence
unfair labor practice proceedings against the City in light of
the serious labor relations implications of the request.
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Next meeting: 12/28/2004
Closed Board session regarding contract negotiations