CBA

Collective Bargaining Agreement Process

Through the efforts of our union, we have been able to vastly improve our clients’ lives and the conditions of our work. We fight hard to ensure dignity and respect for our work and our clients. The strength of our union is reflected in our recent wins in our contract with management, our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Our CBA codifies our rights in our employment. 

We won significant victories in our 2023-2026 CBA: 

• Pay scale increases of $4k for all members 

• Increase in salary add-ons for non-English language skills that are used on the job, and different increases for conversational proficiency and fluency:

  • $3600 for conversational proficiency or $4400 for full professional or native/bilingual proficiency level for first non-English language necessary to the staff position; 

  • For trilingual staff, $1200 for conversational proficiency in second non-English language necessary to the staff position.  

• Codification of the remote work policy

  • More equity in the approval and denial of remote work and scheduling requests.

  • Members can typically work 1 day a week remotely, and can request to work up to 3 days remotely. 

  • Members with recurring health issues can request schedule/work location changes up to 3 days per month. 

  • Members can request alternative work schedules and short-term schedule changes, to flex their hours.

  • OLC will provide approvals or denials of requests, plus the reasons for their approval or denial, in writing.

• Cultural and Holiday Leave system created, moving OLC toward cultural equity and away from reinforcing dominant culture norms. Members must identify their own 12 cultural/holiday leave days or default holiday of 3rd Friday of the month will be imposed. 

• We pushed for more equity, fairness, consistency and transparency on the part of management to help protect our inherent right to use our vacation time. Each office will have a vacation preparation policy by Sept. 1, 2023.

• Vacation time can be bought back in smaller increments: days, instead of weeks.

• Sick leave renamed "Health and Wellbeing leave" and the definition is officially widened to include more kinds of health-related time off, including preventative care for mental and/or physical health, to avoid burn out, and to optimize member ability to provide high quality services to clients.

• Agreement on how current leave will interact with OLC’s upcoming policy changes to comply with Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave

• Changes to bereavement leave policy: 

  • Rewritten definition of family includes grandchildren and loss of pregnancy, stillbirth or miscarriage.

  • OLC cannot contact members during bereavement leave except as necessary to fulfill duties to clients under the Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct and to avoid malpractice or harm to clients.

  • Members can request  to alter work schedule and workload upon return. OLC will not unreasonably deny those requests, and will issue denials in writing.

• OLC will poll members at least once every 5 years to determine member satisfaction with health and dental insurance options. When majority of members are dissatisifed with current insurance options, OLC and Union will engage in collaborative process to shop for new health insurance.

• Pension vesting period shortened for all or most members working a 35-hour work week, possibly for some part-time employees as well. OLC required to offer annual training to members on how to access pension accounts.

• Bar Exam benefits: More leave for Bar Exam prep, 10 weeks instead of 6. More bar exam leave may be used for MPRE prep, 5 days instead of 2. OLC will pay fees for members transferring license from other state or using temporary assistance program

• OLC required to provide financial support, days off to take the LSAT and alternative work schedule for support staff members pursuing a law degree. OLC will provide annual Q&A session on the LSAT and law school for support staff.

• Racial and Gender Equity statement: "The Employer and employees are committed to consciously taking racial and gender equity into account and assessing the impact of all the organization’s internal policies and practices." 

• Gender neutral language must be used in CBA, and in the drafting of all policies, outreach materials, trainings and training materials.

• Creates process for formation and equitable support for Affinity Groups.

• OLC agrees to strive to provide at least 1 All-Gender bathroom per office and to adopt a “Policy in Support of Gender Diversity” within 90 days of ratification.

• OLC will provide appropriate and private places for breastfeeding, pumping, and diaper changing for members and clients. OLC will provide minifridge to lactating members.

• Interpretation and Translation Requests:

  • Discusses reasonability of requests 

  • Support staff members have right to refuse unreasonable requests.

  • OLC will create template policy for interpretation and translation requests with Union consultation, and each office will adopt their own policy based off this template.

  • OLC will create statewide resources for members who translate and interpret at work (e.g., Teams channel).

• Each member must have a workplan and managers will create them collaboratively with staff.

• Addresses case handler expectations (meant to counteract detrimental effects on staff of the 35 case requirement in OLC policy). 

• New requirements for onboarding and for training when members take on new areas of law.

• Within two weeks of an employee’s start date, upon request from the Union, the employee shall be given one hour of paid time for a Union representative to orient the new employee during work hours. OLC shall also provide paid work release of up to one hour for the Union representative who does this orientation.

• More time to file and pursue grievances: 

  • Step 1: 

  • Member has 60 days to grieve an issue that was a single occurrence, or 30 days after the end of a recurring issue. 

  • Union has 60 days to grieve an issue. 

• Step 2: 

  • Member has 30 days after completing Step 1 to submit written grievance.

  • Supervisor has 10 days to respond in writing, and shall send response to member and Union Chair.

• Step 3:

  • Member or Union has 30 days after receipt of Supervisor's reply to send written grievance to Executive Director or designee. ED or designee shall respond in writing within 14 days, and have meeting with member/Union within 30 days of receipt of grievance. 

• Step 4: 

  • Union has 30 days after receipt of ED or designee's response to submit issue in writing to binding arbitration. 

• More rights to increased Union involvement at different stages and in more types of grievances: Union may file a grievance at request of staff, Step 1 grievance response must be sent to Union.

• Protections for members  grieving unlawful discrimination or harassment.

• Reporting required by OLC to Union on number of complaints or grievances under Article 29 (Discrimination, Harassment Equal Opportunity)

We negotiated over wages only in 2020 and finally achieved a living wage for each and every OLCEU union member! Some highlights from our 2020 CBA:

• pay scale increases of $11.7k+ for all members 

• consolidation of two support staff pay scales into one paralegal pay scale 

• an increase in salary add-ons for non-English language skills that are used on the job 

• salary add-ons for senior staff who have at least 6 years of legal experience and who have worked at OLC for at least 3 years

• extended health care coverage to part-time employees

We negotiated over all non-wage issues in 2021, and achieved historic gains. Some highlights from our 2021 CBA:

• paid time for participation in non-profit boards

• recognition of Juneteenth holiday

• OLC-recognized federal holidays may be "exchanged" for any other day in the same calendar year

• increased vacation accrual from 200 to 300 hours, and increased sick leave accrual from 280 to 300 hours

• additional hours of parental leave, including for fostering

• increased bereavement leave from 3 to 5 days for a larger class of family members

• 3-month sabbatical leave available after every 6 years of employment; the first month of the sabbatical is paid leave

• monthly parking and transportation payment for employees in offices where free parking is not available

• recognition of the power imbalance between paralegals and attorneys, and requirement that managers monitor attorneys' work assignments to paralegals and assist in setting priorities for this workload

• burnout recovery plans

• creation of a separate statewide task force for legal support training and regular inclusion of paralegals in statewide substantive task forces

• on-going standardized statewide new employee training for attorney and paralegal positions.

We will negotiate again in 2026 for our 2027-2029 CBA. Our bargaining team is composed of a member elected from each shop and our NOLSW Regional Organizer. When we bargain, all members can be involved in the process by joining our membership meetings and discussions over e-mail in our GoogleGroup. 

Current CBA