Plus 'Court Deal' Terms
SCOA Gets Special 'Senior Differential'

By REUVEN BLAU

The Supreme Court Officers' Association Feb. 27 reached a tentative contract with the Office of Court Administration that provides 8.25 percent in raises and $1,600 in additional payments, half of which will be rolled into base salary.

The deal, which still must be ratified by SCOA members, also includes a retroactive "senior officer series differential" which gives incumbent officers additional pay increases in lieu of placing those titles higher on the pay scale as part of the court reclassification plan.

'Equivalent Payment'

"Since the Office of Court Administration could not be compelled to negotiate classification issues, this settlement was an equivalent payment which goes into base pay in the contract," said SCOA President John McKillop.

The roughly 1,000 officers eligible for the senior differential include: Senior Court Officers and Court Officer Sergeants in those titles on Jan. 8, 2004 or thereafter. They will receive a $1,000 raise retroactive to Jan. 8, 2004, a $1,700 hike as of Jan. 8, 2005, and a $2,350 boost as of Jan. 8, 2006.

Mr. McKillop asserted that those increases "yield more dollars than a straight reclassification," which would not have been retroactive or included the Sergeant title. The SCOA represents 1,433 Court Officer Trainees, Court Officers, and Sergeants in the city and upstate.

"I'm very happy that our membership stood together in going through this very difficult negotiation, and allowed the union to correct the injustices that had been inflicted upon members who were left out of the classification process," Mr. McKillop remarked.

Lost Ground to COA

SCOA members had been working under an expired contract since April 1, 2003, and they have seen their counterparts represented by the Court Officers' Association twice be placed higher on the pay scale as part of OCA's reclassification plan.

The overall SCOA accord is similar to the financial terms of the pacts negotiated by other court and state public-employee unions this round of bargaining.

The tentative contract is retroactive to April 1, 2003. If ratified, SCOA members will receive an $800 pensionable bonus in lieu of a first-year raise and a 2.5percent wage hike retroactive to April 1, 2004. They will also receive a 2.75percent raise retroactive to April 1, 2005, and a 3-percent boost effective April 1, 2006.

On the last day of the SCOA contract, March 31, 2007, officers will receive an $800 increase which will be rolled into base pay.

Under the pact, the starting salary for Court Officer Trainees will rise to $34,199, and appointees will reach $43,002 after two years. Court Officers will receive $58,560 after five years in service.

The deal also includes several time and leave benefit gains that were first negotiated by a coalition of eight unions representing city and Long Island court employees in April 2004.

The benefits include: an increase in paid leave for family illnesses from 10 days to 15 days; the extension of two-day bereavement leave to include the death of a sonin law or daughter-in-law; and a change in the summertime early-release rule for non-air-conditioned buildings to include any time of the year when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees. The sick-leave accruals will increase from 165 days to 200 days.

In addition, the SCOA negotiated a one-time payment of $125 upon ratification for uniformed employees now required to wear new blue shirts. The proposed deal also includes location pay increases and longevity bonuses for officers with 20 or more years of service.

Co-Pays to Rise

The SCOA agreed to adopt the health insurance package first accepted by the Civil Service Employees' Association. That means co-pays will go from $25 to $30 for hospital visits and from $35 to $50 for emergency-room visits. Co-pays for doctor's office visits and outpatient surgical procedures and diagnostic services will rise from $10 to $12. There will also be additional co-pay increases for some brand-name drugs, although co-pays will not rise for brand-name drugs on a "preferred" list or generic drugs.

Under the deal, SCOA members will no longer be able to donate accrued sickleave time to other workers or receive advancement of such leave time from OCA. Instead, the SCOA will create its own voluntary sick-leave bank by using members' donated time to allow workers who are injured or facing a family crisis to take extended leave.