Job Specification Revisions: Legal Clerks

Countywide there are Legal Clerks and Supervising Legal Clerks in seven different departments that include: Child Support Services, County Counsel, District Attorney, Probation, Public Works, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Social Services (DSS).

On July 10, 2023, County Human Resources (HR) notified SLOCEA that HR and the departments with Legal Clerks identified the need to revise the Legal Clerk and Supervising Legal Clerk (SLC) job specifications. The primary intent was to change the single Legal Clerk classification into a career series, change the Supervising Legal Clerk I, II series into a single classification, and to update the job specification language. The last time the job specs were revised was in September 2003.

Following notification from HR of a spec revision proposal, it is SLOCEA’s practice to contact incumbents in the classification to obtain feedback and confer on the proposed revisions. With this spec revision, SLOCEA conferred with 12 different incumbents representing all seven departments with Legal Clerks and Supervising Legal Clerks.

During this process, SLOCEA became aware that in September 2021 a classification study request was submitted by DSS to HR and then resubmitted in September 2022. The study request was driven by management to address retention and the disparity of duties performed by DSS Legal Clerks as compared to the job spec. Unfortunately, HR’s study concluded that the Legal Clerks were working within the existing classification. 

During our vetting process with SLOCEA’s 12 incumbents from the seven departments, we determined that overall, the proposed revised spec accurately represented the scope of duties and responsibilities of the incumbents from County Counsel, Child Support Services, the District Attorney’s Office and Public Works. In contrast, we concluded that the scope of work, duties and responsibilities performed by Legal Clerks at Social Services and in the law enforcement agencies, specifically the Sheriff’s Office and Probation, were significantly different and not in line with the proposed revised spec.

For these reasons, SLOCEA requested HR’s consideration in creating a different job spec for Social Services and one for the two law enforcement agencies. HR maintained that the updated Legal Clerk specification language was broad enough to cover employees at DSS and law enforcement agencies noting that the differences were not significant enough to warrant different classifications.

At the September 27th Civil Service Commission meeting, HR’s request for approval of the revised Legal Clerk and Supervising Legal Clerk was on the agenda. Department heads and/or representatives from each of the represented departments were present as well as four Legal Clerks and two Supervising Legal Clerks from the legal process unit at DSS. SLOCEA representatives were also present.

Following HR’s staff presentation to the Commission, the meeting was open for what would turn out to be a lengthy public comment. Each department representative spoke, as well as 5 of the employees from DSS’s legal process unit, and SLOCEA. DSS Director Devin Drake spoke on the previous reclassification study and his department’s desire for an alternative job spec for their Legal Clerks and Supervising Legal Clerks. The five employees from DSS spoke articulately on the scope, complexity and nature of work that they perform and how it does not align with the revised spec. Commissioner Erica Baltodano notably stated that a job spec should define the work done by incumbents in the classification.

During public comment, SLOCEA addressed the Commission and articulated our support of the proposed career series and classification revision for County Counsel, Child Support Services, the District Attorney’s Office and Public Works and that we favored an alternative classification for DSS and another for Probation and the Sheriff’s Office.

SLOCEA reaffirmed what Commissioner Baltodano stated in that classifications should accurately describe the duties, work assignments, and requirements specific to the position, enabling the County to better attract qualified candidates, while also addressing the matters of retention.

SLOCEA reiterated what the DSS Legal Clerks and SLCs verbalized, that they are a specialized unit with staff members managing a Child Welfare Services legal caseload, that these Legal Clerks must make independent judgment calls to determine which child welfare regulations and requirements apply, and do not collaborate with attorneys.

SLOCEA pointed out the differences in law enforcement, specifically at the Sheriff’s Office, with the wide range and scope of duties performed. These Legal Clerk process, maintain, and update law enforcement records and crime reports, none of which are listed in the job spec. We also pointed out that at Records and Warrants, Legal Clerks must process sex, arson, and gang affiliation registrants which means physical contact with offenders for fingerprinting. At the three substations in Templeton, Los Osos, and Oceano, the Legal Clerks are the public’s first point of contact and on a daily basis deal with a diverse population, often times irate and emotionally charged. That doesn’t even begin to cover the scope of duties at the Sheriff’s Coroner division with Legal Clerks handling autopsy matters and staff in the crime lab. SLOCEA reiterated that the scope of duties and work assignments is vastly different than as represented in the classification revision.

While job specs are generally written to be somewhat broad, a job specification should serve the function of comprehensively addressing the important tasks and duties that set the position apart from others. It should not be so broad that it does not accurately represent the fundamental nature of the job performed. The job spec should also provide the County with the ability to attract and secure qualified candidates, and retain existing staff by providing appropriate compensation for the work they do. 

At the conclusion of the 2 ½ hour meeting, the Commission approved the classification revisions as presented by HR with no adjustments. Most significantly for SLOCEA represented employees, the Commission directed HR staff to place on the October CSC agenda, a directive for HR to conduct a classification study for the Legal Clerks/SLCs at Social Services and for the County’s law enforcement agencies, specifically the Sheriff’s Office and Probation.

By Theresa Schultz, Sr. Labor Representative