Here's What Happened During the January 2025 D.A. LMC Meeting

Dear OCEA member,

Your District Attorney Labor Management Committee met with D.A. management Jan. 21, 2025. As you may know, the Labor Management Committee is a collaborative partnership between OCEA and D.A. management to achieve agency-wide goals, propose improvements to workplace processes, and resolve broad issues.

You were represented at the meeting by Luis Arevalos, Tiffany Blanton, Luz Ceja, Lydia Samaan, and Felecia Weaver.  OCEA Labor Relations Representative Alisha Greene and OCEA Organizer Michelle Truong were also in attendance.

Several important items were discussed at the meeting, including Agency Budget Restrictions, Senior Paralegal Positions, the Investigative Assistant Market Study, Technology Issues, and Ongoing Recruitments.

Please read below for more information regarding these issues:

AGENCY BUDGET RESTRICTIONS 

As you may know, there are new County-wide budget restrictions affecting the Department. The District Attorney's office sent out a memo to employees on how the Department would be affected. Your LMC team asked for clarification on how this impacts overtime and pending promotions. Overtime remains available where necessary operationally. It is still subject to supervisorial approval and other options for addressing the needs will be explored first.  As for pending promotions, the Department was able to receive permission to continue with the Senior Paralegal position. More information below.

OCEA is closely monitoring how these budget restrictions may impact staffing levels and working conditions. If you are impacted at any point, please contact Alisha at agreene@ocea.org.

SENIOR PARALEGAL POSITIONS

The Department has selected candidates for promotion to Senior Paralegal positions and received CEO approval to unfreeze these positions. The D.A. requested 10 Senior Paralegal positions, which will be placed in units with 5+ paralegals.

INVESTIGATIVE ASSISTANT MARKET STUDY

We brought up concerns about the IA market study comparisons at our LMC. Management hosted an informational session on January 22 to address some concerns. However, many of our concerns regarded the study itself, so OCEA sent those inquiries to the Central HR Class and Comp department. The study was approved by the Board of Supervisors at the January 28 meeting. If you have any questions, or concerns related to the study, please reach out.

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES 

Members reported ongoing IT issues in several units, including the Insurance Fraud unit. If you experience technology problems, please document the problem(s) (including screenshots if possible) and report them immediately to the D.A. Help Desk. This documentation helps us advocate for necessary repairs, upgrades, and improvements.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Paralegal members of the LMC also advocated for more position-specific training for paralegals. We had a discussion about the lack of specific training for this classification as many training courses offered are directed more toward attorneys. Management agreed to explore leveraging senior paralegals for training and developing both general and unit-focused training programs. After the meeting with management, our team discussed expanding this discussion to include IA's as well. We will keep everyone updated as we address this issue again at our April meeting. 

ONGOING RECRUITMENTS 

We asked for an update on the Department’s recruitment efforts. We know that inadequate staffing and vacancies directly impact the work you do. The Department’s current recruitment efforts are directed at the following classifications:

• Senior Paralegal 
• Data Entry Specialist 
• Attorney's Clerk I 
• Staff Development Specialist 
• Supervising Deputy Public Administrator 

CECI MARKET STUDY 

OCEA and the D.A.'s office are working to find a date to meet with the Civilian Economic Crime Investigators about their pending market study. The D.A.'s office has also indicated that it will request an update from the Central HR Class and Comp team.

ELETE SOFTWARE 

Our Attorney Clerk members from Harbor Justice Center requested a study be conducted on the availability of Elete software within the office. The Department conducted this study and was able to move the software to a computer that made more sense to those who need to use it within the same week as our LMC meeting. This may be a small change, but it will make a noticeable workflow difference for those employees it impacts.

The LMC is your chance to elevate your questions, concerns, or ideas to top level executives in the D.A.'s office. Although not every idea may be accepted, it remains an important space to make sure that your experience and the challenges you face are relayed directly to those who have the power to make decisions.

If you have issues you'd like addressed or any agenda items to be added to the next LMC meeting, please contact OCEA Labor Relations Representative Alisha Greene at agreene@ocea.org. Your input helps us effectively advocate for improvements in your workplace. 

Stay tuned. Our next meeting will Wed., April 30, 2025. If you have any issues that need to be addressed before then, please feel free to reach out. 

 In Solidarity,

OCEA

Publication Date: February 5, 2025