The State Worker

Tough Times Aside, Court Administrative Doles Out Raises, Perks
By Amy Yarbrough
Daily Journal Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Despite fiscal woes so deep courthouses are closing once a month, the Administrative Office of the Courts has given out hefty raises, promotions and extra paid vacation time to employees to compensate them for furlough days, a Daily Journal analysis of state finance records has found.

Between February 2008 and July 2009, the AOC elevated nearly 80 employees, and raised their pay as much as 31 percent, brushing aside its own self-imposed freeze on promotions, according to payroll records from the State Controller's Office.

The records show that while the agency imposed once-monthly furlough days on employees with one hand, it has increased salaries so much with the other that, coupled with new hires, its payroll costs grew 6 percent from July 2008 to July 2009, for a total of nearly $4.2 million per year.

William Vickrey, administrative director of the courts, said promotions given since the freeze were limited to critical positions and were allowed only through a rigorous exemption process. Most of the raises, he said, were 3.5 percent merit increases authorized by Chief Justice Ronald M. George for both the AOC and the appellate courts.

In July, the AOC froze all merit salary increases, Vickrey said, pointing out the state's Executive Branch gives its employees similar step increases, but at 5 percent.

"We felt that we could continue to provide the merit salary adjustments just as the executive branch and our courts have done," Vickrey said. "I want to continue to do all we can possibly do to treat our employees as fairly as possible under the circumstances."

Los Angeles County Superior Court employees represented by Service Employees International Union received a 3 percent pay increase on July 1, according to Michael Soller, a spokesman for SEIU Local 721.

The nearly 1,000-employee AOC has been under fire from unions and others for its spending in the months since the judiciary's budget soured along with the state's economy. It has been repeatedly criticized for its spending decisions, including the continuation of long-sought construction and computer programs that some have said should be shelved until the budget improves.

Between July 2008 and July 2009, the average raise for AOC's non-hourly employees was 3.76 percent, according to the Daily Journal's analysis, only slightly above the 3.5 Vickrey said was given as a merit increase. But a number of other employees got bigger raises, some as high as 14 percent.

Philip Carrizosa, a spokesman for the AOC, said in an e-mail that some of the outsized raises were necessary to keep top-level employees. He said others received big raises because of "increased job responsibilities," even though their job titles did not change.

"In most instances, the employee was at the lower end of the salary range for their position and raises were made within the salary range without promoting the employee to a new job classification," Carrizosa wrote in the e-mail.

San Diego County Judge Daniel Goldstein, one of the leaders of the Alliance of California Judges, said the fact the AOC would give raises at a time when some trial courts have instituted layoffs underscores the need for greater oversight of the agency.

"It's offensive, that's what it is," Goldstein said.

Those who were promoted received even bigger salary increases. William Griffiths, a manager, received a 31 percent raise upon his promotion from a senior budget analyst, for instance.

Two managers in the agency's Office of Court Construction and Management, who were not promoted, received 14 percent raises between July 2008 and July 2009, on top of 3.5 merit salary adjustments they'd received earlier in 2008. Another manager in that office received a 9 percent raise.

The raises do not take into account the 5 percent pay cut employees are taking as a result of the furlough.

Carrizosa said the three employees received raises when the new director, Lee Willoughby, took over and gave them added responsibilities.

"The raises reflect his restructuring of the office and changes of assignments and related equity adjustments," Carrizosa wrote.

AOC's three regional administrative directors who report to Vickrey, Sheila Calabro, Christine Patton, and Jody Patel also saw big pay bumps, each receiving 10 percent increases in that 2008-2009 time period, bringing their base salaries to $198,708 a year.

According to Carrizosa, those pay raises included that 3.5 percent merit increase. The additional compensation was, "based on the need to remain competitive with other courts.

"As you are probably aware, some courts pay their court executives more than the AOC pays its executive staff," he wrote.

Base salaries for court executives who oversee the state's trial courts range from $78,000 for Amador County to $229,000 for Contra Costa County, according to a recent compensation survey by the AOC. Many court executives also receive generous benefit packages.

"We did what we thought we needed to do to hold onto people we felt were valuable employees," Vickery said.

In addition to the raises, the AOC has been also been offering its employees some other perks.

Before the monthly days off became mandatory, the agency launched a voluntary furlough program, which ran January 1 though June 30, to help save the agency money. In exchange for each month they took a furlough day, the AOC was offering employees a day of paid leave that could be banked for future use, according to a Nov. 18, 2008 memo written by Vickrey.

"We lose a day of their productivity when they take leave, but we spent less as a result that year," he said.

Although many received raises, employees were not given an additional cost-of-living increase last fiscal year as they have in other years. Because of that and because the merit raises were smaller than in years past, Vickery's memo said, employees were also given three extra paid days off between Thanksgiving and Jan. 2, 2009.

amy_yarbrough@dailyjournal.com

Reprinted and posted with the permission of Daily Journal Corp. (2009).

In case you missed it, read The Bee's editorial on the AOC's actions by clicking here.