In the most recent negotiations between the County of Los Angeles and SEIU Local 535 an agreement was reached in the contract regarding the training requirement for a Children’s Social Worker II to promote to the position of Children’s Social Worker III.

Specifically Article 7, Section 1.E., reads as follows:

Certified Training Requirement

Effective October 1, 2000, advancement from CSW II to the class of CSW III shall require completion of 40 hours of certified in-service training, not to include any new- hire orientation training. The completion of certified in-service training is subject to the following conditions:

1. Management shall offer sufficient in-service opportunities for CSW II’s to complete the training necessary to advance from CSW II to the class of CSW III.
   
2. Management shall offer a significant portion of this training at locations within each region where CSW’s are assigned.
   
3. In service training includes departmental training sessions and departmental approved training via videotape.
   
4. Job related outside training would satisfy an employee’s training requirement if approved by management.

If management fails to comply with these conditions, affected employees who have a competent or better performance evaluation will advance to the next step independently of their satisfaction to the training requirement.

In order to be promoted to the position of CSW III, the applicant must complete 40 hours of in-service training as described above. The 40-hour certified training requirement can be counted as far back as the original hire date, but it does not include the Academy Training hours. The prior agreement in which CSW III’s had to complete 16 hours of certified training hours in order to receive raises to steps 6 and 7 are no longer required. However, the 16-hour certified training requirement for the SCSW remains the same, as described in the memorandum of understanding for SCSW’s. Specifically the requirement states in part "… advancement to Steps 6 and 7 for employees in the class of Supervising Children’s Social Worker shall require completion of 16 hours of certified in-service training during the preceding 12 months…"

Although the MOU states this new training requirement is to become effective October 1, 2000, in an agreement between Local 535 and the Department of Children and Family Services, the date has been extended to January 31, 2001. Promotions for qualified candidates will not be held up for those applicants who qualified for the CSW III position on or after October 1, 2000, and prior to or on January 31, 2001; however, those employees must complete the required training by January 31, 2001. For applicants who become qualified on or after February 1, 2001, you must have completed the 40 hours of required training prior to being promoted.

Any questions to this information can be forwarded to the Labor Relations Section at (213) 351-5529 or the Personnel office at (213) 351-5697.

If any employee needs to find out how many training hours they have accumulated they need to FAX the Transcript Request form to our Training Registrars. The Transcript Request form is also available from the Training Liaisons in each office.