Deputies get new contract in San Mateo County

Sheriff’s deputies, who were without a contract since 2020, leaving them to work under provisions of the expired contract, are set to receive a 10% pay hike after supervisors approved a memorandum of understanding with the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association on Tuesday.

The 10% raise is meant to account for the two years without a contract and includes a 3.3% equity adjustment. The new agreement will be effective beginning Jan. 10, 2021, retroactively. Combined with other benefits, it will result in a first-year net increase of about $11.6 million.

Annual pay increases from 2023 through 2026, based on an annual survey of comparatives, will also include a 1% bump above the highest pay rate specified in the survey and an additional 3.3% equity adjustment in 2023-24.

Current employees will also receive a $2,000 ratification bonus, accrue vacation hours at a higher rate after five years of full-time employment and 2% longevity pay after eight years with the department.

Also included in the agreement are changes to the department’s retiree health program, a sticking point that led to the delayed negotiations. Under the former retiree medical plan, put in place in 1999, sick leave was converted to a cash payout for retirement funding, a structure the DSA said penalized officers who may give birth or those with medical issues.

Moving forward, retiree health will no longer be tied to sick leave and will instead be based on hire date and years of service at the time of retirement. Beginning Feb. 5, 2023, sick leave hours will be frozen for current employees aside from 192 hours that will remain in their balance. New hours will be accrued at 3.7 hours per pay period, or 96.2 hours a year, with a cap of 960 hours.

Current employees who retire with less than 15 years of service with the department at the time of retirement will have their frozen sick leave hours and whatever remains of their 192 unfrozen hours put into a retiree medical expense reimbursement plan administered by the Peace Officers Research Association of California Retiree Medical Trust. Those funds will be administered at a rate of $675 or $400 for every eight hours, depending on their time with the county.

Those with the department between 15 and 20 years at the time of retirement will receive up to $500 a month to purchase coverage through the county’s health plans until the age of 65 when payment will stop and 50% of their frozen sick hours and what remains of their 192 hours will be paid to the trust based on the employee’s hourly rate at retirement. A similar offering applies to those with the department for more than 20 years, except their monthly contribution from the county will be $1,000.

Meanwhile, new employees will contribute $100 monthly to a trust in addition to receiving a $50 contribution from the county for their retirement health program. Changes to the retirement health program are expected to cost an additional $15.36 million but costs should decrease over time as new employees join the force, reducing the county’s contributions.

Sheriff Carlos Bolanos, who has led the department since his appointment in 2017, had called on the board and the county’s negotiations team to move forward with a fair agreement after arguing his department would struggle to recruit without offering competitive benefits.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is a department of about 800 employees serving residents countywide. In addition to providing direct law enforcement services to unincorporated areas of the county, the department is also contracted by San Carlos, Half Moon Bay and Millbrae.

Sheriff-elect Christina Corpus is slated to take office early next year after winning her bid for the position against Bolanos in June.