The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) and State Teachers’ Retirement Law (STRL) provide defined benefit retirement plans administered by CalPERS or CalSTRS, respectively, for eligible employees of participating public agencies (“employers”). To fund these plans, public education agency employers report member compensation to either CalPERS or CalSTRS directly, or through their county offices of education. 
Alysha Stein-Manes
What’s a “Skelly” Conference, Again? Legal Requirements and Best Practices for Complying with Employees’ Due Process Rights When Imposing “Significant” Discipline
You’ve probably heard the term “Skelly” meeting or conference hundreds, if not thousands of times, but what does “Skelly” really mean? Even if you think you know, a refresher can’t hurt, right?!
Most California public employees have what is known as a constitutionally protected “property” interest in continued employment, once and…
Hiring the Best While Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Public Sector Workforce
Over the last several years, virtually all levels of government have increasingly recognized the critical link between building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and effectively meeting the needs of the communities they serve—in particular, historically underserved and marginalized communities.
At the federal level, the Biden Administration has issued several Executive Orders that recognize the…
Additional Funding for Schools, Community Colleges, and Other Local Agencies is on the Ballot November 3
Who will be our Country’s next President is not the only issue on the ballot November 3. If you’ve voted in California before, are in the middle of studying your ballot, don’t mute your TV commercials during election season, or read text messages that you receive from campaign volunteers, you know that California has a…
California Court of Appeal Clarifies Standard by Which a Public Agency’s At-Large Voting System Will Be Deemed to Violate the California Voting Rights Act, Having the Potential to Significantly Impact California Voting Rights Litigation
Last month, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District of California issued a decision in Pico Neighborhood Association, et al v. City of Santa Monica (Jul. 9, 2020, No. B295935) __ Cal.App.3d __ [2020 WL 3866741] (“Pico”), finding that the City of Santa Monica’s at-large voting system did not violate the…
New Year, New Laws, Old Goals: Addressing Systemic Compliance Issues in the New Year
How many times have you set a New Year’s resolution and a month or two into the New Year said to yourself, “oh well, maybe next year”? We all too often set personal and professional goals each year, only to give up or put them on the back-burner once we get behind in reaching those…
Can Sending an Emoji to a Colleague Expose Me or My Employer to a Claim for Harassment? Tips for Preventing Harassment Claims In the Age of Social Media
If you are a supervisory employee for a public agency or private school in California, or a member of your employer’s human resources department, you have most likely sat through a 2-hour supervisory training regarding preventing harassment in the workplace. You may know this training as “AB 1825 Training.” If you are a non-supervisory employee,…
California Court of Appeals Further Clarifies STRS’ Authority to Collect Overpayments Made to Retirees
Over the last several years, the California Courts of Appeal have addressed questions regarding the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s (CalSTRS) ability to collect overpayments of monthly retirement benefits paid to retirees because of, among other things, miscalculations of the retirees’ compensation earnable. A Court of Appeal handed down the most recent case, Blaser v.
Three is Company: Police Departments Usage of Drones and Robots and What it Means for Employer-Employee Relations
This post was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes and Daniel Seitz
Remote surveillance is an area of expanding interest for law enforcement agencies. Police departments continue to equip their sworn officers with body-mounted video cameras (“body cams”), and, in California, the Legislature has begun to regulate discoverability of body cam footage. Agencies in California and across…
The Census is Coming: Preparing Your Agency for 2020
This blog was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes.
April 1, 2020, is national Census Day and will kick off a year-long process of counting every resident in the United States. In California, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (the “Commission”), a non-partisan commission comprised of democratic, republican and independent (decline-to-state or no party preference) voters, is…