Photo of Steven M. Berliner

Steve is the Chair of the firm’s Retirement, Benefits and Disability Practice Group and works to ensure that our firm stays on the cutting edge of the law related to these important areas. He has an extensive labor relations practice and unparalleled retirement law expertise. Steve has acted as chief negotiator for many public agencies in labor negotiations with their employee groups, helping them reduce payroll and other costs. He also advises clients on contract interpretation issues and represents clients in grievance matters and is frequently called on to assist agencies in times of fiscal crisis.

On or about June 8, 2023, a law firm filed a complaint of discrimination with the Civil Rights Department (“CRD” [formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing]) and requested a right to sue notice on behalf of a former employee of Lake County who received a disability retirement through the California Public Employees’ Retirement

On February 28, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) updated its guidance concerning the use of face coverings to further relax those requirements.

While the updated CDPH guidance continues to require the use of face covering in certain high-risk settings,[1] the guidance removes those requirements in most other circumstances:

  • Effective March 1,

Background

On September 27, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 278, which adds Government Code section 20164.5 and will go into effect on January 1, 2022. SB 278 greatly increases the potential costs to CalPERS agencies for reporting errors, by creating new and in some cases retroactive financial exposure for CalPERS agencies already

On July 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Assn. (Alameda).  It was anticipated that the Court would address the continuing viability of the “California Rule.”  Under the California Rule, a public employee is vested in a pension benefit

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (“CalPERS”) has answered several outstanding questions concerning how paid leave hours taken under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) should be tracked and reported.  On April 16, 2020, CalPERS issued Circular Letter No. 200-021-20 which explains how to report compensation and track hours for employees taking leave under

On March 14, 2020, at 12:51 am, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in an effort to reduce the impact of the virus on American families, the House of Representative passed H.R. 6201, titled the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act).  The bill will now move to the Senate, where it will be

This Special Bulletin follows up on our February 5, 2020 Special Bulletin on COVID-19, the novel coronavirus of 2019.  The information in that Special Bulletin remains valid, including those steps individuals can take to lessen the spread of the virus.

In the past month, COVID-19 spread throughout much of the world, including to the

Retirement-Sign.jpg We have discussed in prior blog posts that more and more agencies are being audited by CalPERS.  The auditors may find that compensation was not reported correctly or that individuals (such as certain part-time employees or consultants/independent contractors) who were not enrolled as members should have been enrolled.  Sometimes the retroactive period can be years

This blog post was reviewed and revised in September 2019 to provide the most up-to-date legal information.Retirement-Sign.jpg

Given all the recent public employee pension reform changes to absorb, it is not surprising that part-time employees of CalPERS contracting agencies have received little attention.  After all, part-time employees are excluded from CalPERS membership, right?  While that