Greetings, union brothers and sisters, Your 008 negotiations team met with the department over the proposed implementation of a new process they are calling the (CDIL) County Duplicate Impact List. This is a list comprised of cases that have been identified as duplicates in the county of the Golden Record. The department states that they receive 60-70 cases per day with duplicate person(s) associated with it. There is a backlog of a few hundred cases that need to be process

Greetings, union brothers and sisters, Your 008 negotiations team met with the department regarding the implementation of ABAWD requirements effective June 1, 2026. At our request, the department provided a guideline or “script” to assist workers in eliciting responses from clients in order to meet an exemption per HR1 requirements. UPE felt that some of those suggested questions could lead clients to request resources based on their answer. The department agreed and will b

Greetings, union brothers and sisters, Your 008 and 005 negotiations team met with the department over the implementation of CORE. UPE continued to try to convince the department to offer additional training in a traditional induction-style classroom. The department is proposing that HSS staff take 5 days’ worth of WBTs (web-based training modules) at their desks, followed by a week of self-taught case practice. Not only is this style of training inadequate, but much of the

On May 19, 2026, UPE met again with DHA regarding ongoing issues at Susie Gaines Mitchell (SGM). UPE again brought up the lack of interview space. The Department stated that they recently added another CSR interview room. The Department also made clear that no interview rooms are assigned to individuals, with very few exceptions. UPE requested that the Department place reserved signs on the doors of reserved rooms to avoid confusion among staff. Nearly all rooms are assigned

Greetings, union brothers and sisters, Your 008 and 005 bargaining units met with the department again regarding the proposal of CORE. We continue to fiercely advocate for much longer training than what the County is offering for Cal Works. We made several proposals to expand the duration and to add additional content. The department did agree to hold our members harmless for 1 year as it relates to errors and omissions, and 6 months if members fail to keep up with their ass

Greetings, union brothers and sisters, Your 008 and 005 negotiation team met with the department regarding CORE. A pattern is emerging: the department continues to arrive at these meetings with unrealistic timelines and expectations for implementing this major overhaul of our operations. The most offensive and insensitive proposal the department made is that all MACF workers will be cross-trained in CW for a mere 2 weeks. Of the proposed 2 weeks being offered, 1 week is virt

Greetings UPE sisters and brothers, Your UPE 008 team met again with DHA management on 5/1/26 regarding ABAWD/HR1 changes to the CF program. Department management agreed to several of UPE’s proposals to hopefully lessen the impact of the massive HR1 changes: Workers will be held harmless for 6 months for errors and omissions due to the newness of the program changes. Workers will be given discretion to decide which customers are “obviously unfit for employment” under the new

On April 17, 2026, UPE 005 representatives met with Sacramento County over four new proposed County-wide policies: Incompatible Activities, Nepotism, Pre-Employment Checks, and a County Code of Conduct. Incompatible Activities requires members to disclose any outside employment that may conflict with their County employment. The Pre-Employment Checks relate to what criminal history information DPS can and cannot disclose to hiring Departments while considering new candidates.

Greetings Union Brothers, Sisters, and Friends, Your 008 bargaining team met for the second time with the department regarding the re-implementation of ABAWD requirements for CalFresh, due to HR1. Management shared all training materials with us, and we took a deep dive into the content, training structure, and analyzed what would make this more effective for staff. Due to the diligence and extensive steps required for workers to handle ABAWD,

We’ve received questions about whether employees are entitled to an additional rest break when working overtime. Here’s a clear breakdown: Under California law, you are entitled to a paid rest break for every 4 hours worked, or major fraction of 4 hours (which is anything over 2 hours). If you work a standard 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM shift with a one-hour unpaid lunch, you have worked 8 hours and are entitled to two rest breaks. If you then work overtime from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM,

Greetings, Union Brothers and Sisters, On April 10, your 008 board members met again with DHA management to discuss the questionable document validation process. Last time we met, DHA proposed that the follow-up groups at Greenhaven and East Commerce handle all returned documents from PID and proceed with those cases. At that time, we requested data on this group’s average call time, task time, and phone time to determine whether they have the capacity to absorb this additio

Your 008-bargaining team met with the department regarding their proposal to have OA’s site verify the identification of clients when they are unknown to Cal Saws or MEDS. The department stated that they wanted to avoid handoffs when ID needs to be submitted. UPE believes this is an out-of-class job duty meant for eligibility staff only. We were unable to come to any kind of agreement for a change in the duties of our Office Assistants. We demanded that the department retrac

Greetings union brothers, sisters, & friends, On April 7th, 2026, your bargaining team met with the department regarding the fallout of the 28th street closure and additional operational changes the County has made as a result. Specifically, minor consent applications will now be centralized department-wide instead of being handled by an individual specialized unit. The department agreed to provide training to all HSS staff as a reminder of how to treat these confidential ca

Greetings, UPE 005/008 brothers and sisters! On April 2, 2026, UPE met with the County to discuss the transition of the telework applications with regard to how they will now be submitted and stored. The department is asking all staff to input their current telework information, including their current telework schedule and insurance information, into WISE. UPE had minimal questions, such as: how long do employees have to enter their information into WISE, what happens if t

Greetings union brothers, sisters, and friends, Your 008 bargaining team met with the department regarding the re-implementation of the ABAWD requirements for Cal Fresh due to HR1. These changes will take place effective June 1st, 2026. The department stated that our members will be required to assess cases for ABAWD exemptions and that they have devised a training plan they will roll out over time in late April through May. Most but not all of the information will be relaye

On February 17, 2026, UPE met and conferred with representatives from Sacramento County and SCERS regarding updates to the County's policy regarding Retired Annuitants. Retired Annuitants are retired County employees who come back to work for the County on a part-time basis. Both State Law and SCERS rules tightly regulate the use of annuitants. State law was recently updated to allow SCERS to fine Departments $200 for failing to properly monitor and report on their use of ret

On November 6, 2025, UPE met with the County about expanding online reporting to now include the general public, in addition to mandated reporters. The department has stated they expect this to reduce the number of phone calls, but they do not expect this to change the overall workload. UPE asked if there is another County that has adopted this model and what their stats are, phone calls vs. online reports. This information was not readily available, and they wanted to know w

Greetings, Union Brothers & Sisters On November 6th, the 005/008 bargaining team met with the department for the second time regarding the closure of the 28th Street bureau. Previously, UPE proposed that all HSSs in the Yellow & Green groups be allowed to bid by location based on seniority. Today, the department officially accepted that proposal and agreed to allow CSRs to bid by location regardless of special skills. These are both victories for our 28th Street members. UPE

On October 17, 2025, UPE met with the department about the revised Permanency Social Worker Standards CPS (Adult Protective Services). The last time the standards were published was 2019. Throughout the policy, UPE had many suggestions for improvement that, surprisingly, the department considered and changed. These changes included making sure that the County provides chargers for all device types in order for Social Workers to "be available by cell phone during work hours…

Greetings, Union Brothers & Sisters 005/008 members met with the department regarding the federal government shutdown and Cal Fresh benefits not being administered effective November 1st, 2025. UPE’s primary concern is the safety and security of our members. The department stated that while the actual number of security staff has not been increased, the Sheriff’s Department has agreed to increase patrols by officers at all open lobbies. UPE expressed dissatisfaction with the