Rocklin Firefighters, Local 522 Side Letter – Temporary Upgrade Pay
Tameka Usher, Administrative Services Director
Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Rocklin Approving a Side Letter of Agreement to the Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Rocklin and the Rocklin Firefighters, Local 522.
The City of Rocklin and the Rocklin Firefighters, Local 522 are parties to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028. Section II, Article 2 of the MOU includes provisions related to Out-of-Class Pay (Temporary Upgrade Pay).
The City recently received guidance from CalPERS indicating that the Temporary Upgrade Pay language, as currently written, does not fully comply with the Public Employees’ Retirement Law and applicable California Code of Regulations requirements for reporting the compensation to CalPERS. Specifically, California Code of Regulations Section 571(a)(3) requires that, for temporary upgrade pay to be reportable as special compensation, an employee must perform all of the duties of the higher classification.
The current MOU language provides Temporary Upgrade Pay when an employee performs a “majority” of the duties of a higher classification. This language does not meet applicable CalPERS requirements for reporting Temporary Upgrade Pay as special compensation because it does not require the employee to perform all duties of the higher classification. The proposed Side Letter Agreement amends Article 2 to clarify that an employee must perform all duties of the higher classification, rather than a majority of the duties, to qualify for Temporary Upgrade Pay. This will align the MOU language with applicable CalPERS reporting requirements and allow qualifying Temporary Upgrade Pay to be reported as special compensation.
Staff satisfied the meet and confer obligation with the Rocklin Firefighters, Local 522 regarding the proposed changes for the side letter in accordance with the City of Rocklin Employee-Employer Resolution.
There is no direct fiscal impact resulting from the staff recommendation.