Pay Hike Approved For Riverside County Prosecutors, Other Lawyers

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a five-year collective bargaining agreement with the union representing Riverside County prosecutors that guarantees salary increases and medical care subsidies.

In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board unanimously accepted the Department of Human Resources-crafted agreement with the Riverside County Deputy District Attorneys' Association, which takes effect on Jan. 1 and expires Dec. 31, 2025.

The previous two-year contract expired last year.

A total 264 attorneys are covered under the new agreement, mainly prosecutors, but also lawyers from the Office of County Counsel and the Department of Child Support Services.

Negotiations between the county and union spanned roughly 18 months and resulted in several modifications to the prior agreement, which contained generous terms, including expanded vacation bank time redemptions that aren't part of the new compact.

The current agreement, however, does include pay raises, and it eliminates several lower rungs in the salary scale, moving more employees into higher tiers, or "step" classifications.

According to the agreement, beginning in the summer of 2022, salaries will be increased 2 percent for a number of classifications, to be followed with another 2 percent bump in summer 2023, and 3 percent to 4 percent upward adjustments in summer 2024.

Beginning next year, a merit pay program will begin, providing attorneys with an opportunity to receive 1.5 percent to 3 percent salary hikes for satisfactory or better evaluations on their performance reports.

The county will continue paying medical insurance subsidies, reducing union members' premium obligations anywhere from $125 to $300 per month.

On the other hand, the memorandum of understanding calls for phasing out employer-paid member contributions for most RCDDAA members vested in the California Public Employees' Retirement System. That will mean about 8 percent out of members' gross salaries, officials said.

Employees vested in the defined-benefit plan that existed in the county prior to August 2012 are guaranteed future retirement benefits under a 3 percent at 60 formula. Employees hired after that time qualify for benefits of 2 percent at 60 or 2 percent at 62, depending on their classification. The age at which full retirement benefits become available is 60 for the majority of union members.

Compensation is based on the amount — 2 or 3 percent for RCDDAA members — of the average of the three highest-paid years of an employee's career, multiplied by the number of years he or she was on the job.

The new contract replicates one sealed with the Riverside County Attorneys' Association, representing 121 non-managerial deputy public defenders.