On Tuesday, July 18, 2017, the Sheriff’s Department notified PPOA that it was their intention to remove the Supervisory Skill Pay Bonus for sergeants who supervise Bonus II deputies. They stated the newly negotiated Supervisory POST bonus exceeded the amount of the Supervisory Skill Pay Bonus and, therefore, in accordance with our 612 MOU, the Supervisory Skill Pay bonus should be withdrawn.
PPOA immediately contacted the CEO’s office with whom we negotiated the POST Bonus. It was never the intent to eliminate other pay incentives and replace them with the POST Bonus. The CEO agreed and instructed the Sheriff’s Department to cease their efforts to remove the Skill Pay Bonus for those PPOA members supervising Bonus II Deputies. To rectify this issue for the future, we will make language changes to the MOU in the upcoming contract negotiations to ensure the MOU is consistent with our negotiations and the intent of negotiated benefits.
“I am deeply disappointed in the Sheriff’s Department for attempting to take away the Skill Bonus,” states PPOA President Brian Moriguchi. “We negotiated the POST Bonus to help create separation between the deputy and sergeant classifications (compaction), not replace other de-compaction efforts.”
PPOA is grateful to the CEOs office for honoring the spirit of our negotiations and for staying true to the intent of the Supervisory POST Bonus. Although we are also grateful to Sheriff Jim McDonnell for his support of the Supervisory POST Bonus following intense negotiations with the County, we have been very frustrated with the inability of the department to complete the process. PPOA has had to fight the Sheriff’s Department every step of the way on this POST Bonus to ensure our members receive their POST Bonus pay on July 30th. We worked directly with the CEO, the Auditor Controller’s Office and LACERA to avoid the delays by the Sheriff’s Department. We believe we have succeeded in our efforts. If anyone believes they qualify for the Supervisory POST Bonus and does not see the 1.5% pay raise in their July 30th paycheck (as well as their 2% COLA raise), please contact Brian Moriguchi directly at bmoriguchi@ppoa.com.