As announced at our June 24th CSBA Annual Meeting, there will be a significant benefits enhancement in our dental coverage as of August 1st, when we step up to the MetroDent Premier Plus coverage tier. It provides a higher schedule of payments and a wider panel of participants. We will also increase the number of covered cleanings from two to three per year.

This change was authorized by the CSBA Welfare Fund Trustees in consultation with the experts at ASO SIDS and with Sandra Aguiar, our Senior Account Executive at Amalgamated Employee Benefits Administrators. Although this enhancement will cost the Fund in excess of an additional $100,000 per year, we make this move based both upon ample reserves and the hope that this will result in better dental care for our members and families, resulting in some offsetting savings through prevention of more serious problems down the road.

NEWSLINE Summer 2025

By Saul Fishman, President, Civil Service Bar Association

New York City and surrounding suburbs can be either very pleasant or quite brutal depending on the day, the hour, where you are and how you’re dressed. Many of these things are largely out of our control when we are in the office. So it is essential that our employer provide us with an environment which is adequate and safe, which during the summer includes air conditioning.

Important: When the air conditioning goes out or is at either ridiculous extreme, please contact us immediately at csbainfo@local237.org. Kindly let us know who has been contacted, when and by whom, and provide us with whatever details you have (i.e.- agency, address, floor(s), units and room numbers affected, when the condition started, and a suggestion (with contact information when possible) of whom we should reach out to. We can keep your identity confidential if you wish, but please provide us with your cell phone number and/or personal email address should we need further information or updates. If the indoor temperature is unbearable, we will push to allow you to work remotely until the situation has been remedied!

With all the stress most of us experience, from our jobs as underpaid (despite the recent salary and RIP raises) and overworked NYC Agency Attorneys, to living in a divided country with leadership bordering on the insane, it’s crucial that we take steps to care for ourselves.

Summer is nature’s reminder to take a vacation and/or to slow the pace down when possible. Here are a few suggestions; hopefully you can utilize at least a couple of them or alternatively find your own methods to safely enjoy yourself during the hot weather:

• Spend some time outdoors, preferably either before or after the heat of the day. Nothing beats a relaxing stroll in your happy place!
• Stay well-hydrated and protect your skin from the sun.
• Exercise with the activities of your choice (tennis, pickleball or softball, anyone?) but be mindful of the weather and your limits. Take rest and hydration breaks in the shade.
• Make your own summer music playlist.
• Reconnect with a friend.
• Did I mention take a vacation? Even a long weekend is better than no vacation, and can help us recharge, reenergize and de-stress. Alternatively, if you cannot leave town, even a stay-cation in the world’s greatest city, with Broadway shows, great museums, restaurants, shopping, beaches and more, can probably de-stress you for less.

Here’s to a fun and relaxing Summer of 2025, either here in the Baked Apple or in the place(s) of your choice!

On May 25, 2025, Aldona Vaiciunas, our beloved CSBA Grievance Coordinator and Office Administrator for more than 25 years, suddenly passed away. She will be greatly missed by the many people who she assisted or otherwise came into contact with.

Not only did Aldona do everything possible to move our grievances forward (mission impossible with OLR) and knowledgeably advise and answer members’ inquiries, but she also was instrumental in coordinating witnesses for Local 237’s successful School Safety Officer equal pay lawsuit and separately in reviewing years of billing records from a law firm that was overcharging us.

Aldona was not only admired for her hard work and intelligence within our union, she was also the long-time President of the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association. In that capacity, she was respected by community leaders and politicians throughout Brooklyn.

We have been informed that the NYC Office of Payroll Administration has scheduled payment of our salary, RIP and longevity differential increases (3.25% each) for Friday May 9th. There should be a small retroactive payment to make up for the three-week delay from the contractual April 18th date it should have been paid.

Are we surprised by the delay? Unfortunately not, as they have never paid us (or any other title to my knowledge) exactly on time. At least by NYC government standards, this is a relatively short delay.

As you have probably heard, whether by a mailing containing your new prescription cards and a Welcome brochure, or at the detailed presentation at our October 30th General Membership meeting, or via our Facebook page (CSBA Attorneys), AEBRx (powered by Prime Therapeutics) is our new prescription drug administrator (replacing Aetna).

FYI, AEBRx is affiliated with the Amalgamated family of union-centered companies. Our Welfare Fund Trustees believe that this change is the best interests of our members and the Fund, and apologize for any temporary inconvenience you may experience during the transition. You should be able to continue to pick up your medicines from the same pharmacy as before. If you have any questions, please call AEBRx’s 24-hour Customer Service number: (855) 371-9780 or visit their website AEBRx.com.

As always for Welfare Fund issues, especially if there remains a problem after calling the AEBRx Customer Service number for prescription issues (above), you can continue to reach out to Sandra Aguiar, our Senior Account Executive at Amalgamated Employee Benefits via saguiar@amalgamatedbenefits.com.

The following individuals were duly elected as CSBA Officers, Class of 2027 on Tuesday May 14, 2024. As they ran unopposed, they were elected by one unanimous ballot cast by the Recording Secretary:

Saul Fishman (DOF), President; Lester Paverman (NYPD), First Vice President; Abbe Kalnick (ACS), Second Vice President; Kevin Hsi (HPD), Corresponding Secretary; Laura Sword (DEP), Recording Secretary; Michaele Bober (DSS), Treasurer.

Elected as Directors, Class of 2027 (unopposed) were Daniel Brickman (DOB), John Cannavo (NYCHA), Brigitte Rajacic (NYCHA), Robert Spiesman (DSS), Renee Storey (DOB), Bernard Tordesillas (DOF), and Vincent Verdi (NYPD).

Elected as Welfare Fund Trustee, Class of 2026, was Ka Ng (NYCHA).

Congratulations, all!

Governor Kathy Hochul has just signed legislation, following approval through both the NY State Senate and the NY State Assembly, which improves the formula to calculate Tier 6 pensions. Whereas Tier 6 is still not as favorable overall as Tier 4 and other earlier pensions, at least they are both now calculated based upon the average salaries of your three best consecutive years. This is indeed very welcome news for those of us hired since 2012!

We are pleased to announce that State Senator Robert Jackson, the Chair of the Civil Service and Pensions Committee, has agreed to address us at our virtual June 20th CSBA Annual Meeting about the changes, what we can expect next, and to answer any questions you may have.

CSBA has now finalized the last part of our current collective bargaining agreement, namely the 0.88% additional compensation for titles that are difficult to recruit and retain. Rather than let the city siphon these funds to help particular agencies recruit, we insisted that since we are definitely a difficult to recruit and retain title, all of our members must share in the money. Hence our Recurring Increment Payment (“RIP”) schedules have been enhanced retroactive to October 18, 2023. A copy of this fully-executed Equity Agreement dated April 8, 2024 can be found within the “CSBA Agreement” tab on this website. Please note that whenever we receive a contractual increase, these RIPs will automatically increase by the same percentage.

The large majority of our members are now able to work remotely for up to two days per week, much as we did, productively, from home five days a week during the worst eighteen months of the pandemic. There are still a very few mayoral agencies, however, which still have not announced a start date despite our collective bargaining agreement and our continued outreach to the Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations (“OLR”) and individually to the agencies. This delay is harming morale, productivity and agencies’ ability to retain and attract talented employees including Agency Attorneys. Ultimately, the public suffers when this happens via longer delays and poorer work quality caused by needless vacancies and less experienced new colleagues (eventually if and when they are hired).

City be warned: Further delay will force us to utilize all available means to obtain compliance with this common-sense, contractually agreed-to program!

Some of the benefits of our recently-ratified contract are about to be realized. OLR has confirmed that for most of us, the ratification bonus will be paid on November 9th. For NYCHA attorneys, the ratification bonus pay date is November 16th. Retroactive wage increases relating back to 4/18/2021, 4/18/2022 and 4/18/2023 are confirmed for November 24th, except for NYCHA employees, whose retro pay date is November 30th. Salary increases and RIP changes are also expected for November 24th (November 30th for NYCHA), although we are told that “there may be certain instances where changes must be manually completed at the agency level that may result in a delay.”

Although OLR has not yet provided the Deferred Compensation Plan calendar showing how far in advance one must arrange an additional one-time increase in money to be deferred to minimize an immediate tax consequence, a call directly to Deferred Compensation [212-306-7760] advised that October 26th is the last day for increased deferral out of the November 9th ratification bonus check, and November 9th is the last date to schedule increased deferral for the November 24th retroactive check. We were told that the above can be best accomplished by first registering on their website www.voya.com/nycdcp. Please note that CSBA does not provide tax advice, and that you may wish to consult with your tax professional regarding the benefits and potential drawbacks of taking any such action.