After months of organizing and more than 150 member-led actions across LA County, we secured a landmark contract with across-the-board Heroes Pay for All bonuses, full healthcare cost coverage, and a new Juneteenth paid holiday!
Members ratified our groundbreaking agreement with a resounding 98% YES vote, and it was approved by the Board of Supervisors on October 19.
The Agreement must still appear on a Board of Supervisors agenda for a second reading and final approval, scheduled for this Tuesday, November 2. The Auditor Controller will then program payroll to include the general $1000 bonus on the November 15 or November 30 paychecks.
$1000 General Bonus
After the Board of Supervisors gives final approval to the Agreement on November 2, the Auditor Controller will program payroll to include the general $1000 bonus on the November 15 or November 30 paychecks.
$500 Countywide “COVID Appreciation” Bonus
All County employees who were employed by LA County by July 1, 2020 and whose job duties required them to be within 6 feet or less of a co-worker, patient, client, or member of the general public for a period of at least 15 minutes on at least one occasion are eligible for an additional $500 bonus. To receive the bonus an employee must complete a simple attestation form, which consists of checking off two boxes. These forms will be available beginning on November 1. To access the attestation forms, log on to mylacounty.gov, click on ‘eFORMS’. The form will be found under the ‘Countywide’ tile.
[A sample of the Countywide “COVID Appreciation” self-attest form is provided below]
However, there is one additional step that the County must take before these bonuses can be issued – since these are a new type of bonus, LACERA must conduct an analysis to determine whether they are pensionable. Because of this extra step, and because employees must be given sufficient time to complete the attestation form, these bonuses will not be issued on November 15. They will be included in the December 15 paychecks.
$150 or $650 “COVID Heroes” Bonus for Members in DHS
SEIU 721 members employed by the Department of Health Services (DHS) from March 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 are eligible for additional bonuses, paid for out of Provider Relief Fund moneys received by DHS in the original CARES Act. To receive the “DHS COVID Heroes” bonus, DHS employees must complete a second attestation form like the one described above. These forms will also be available beginning on November 1 and can be accessed by DHS employees at the same location (log on to mylacounty.gov, click on ‘eFORMS’.) The form will be found under the ‘Countywide’ tile, after DHS employees complete the first form.
These bonuses will also require a LACERA analysis, so they will not be included in paychecks until December 15.
[A sample of the DHS “Heroes Bonus” self-attest form is provided below]
Is this for all county employees or only ones represented by the union?
The Agreement only covers SEIU 721-represented members, but the Board of Supervisors has approved bonuses for other County employees, including some, but not all managers.
We all worked very hard and deserved this we thank you for the efforts and hard work the Union did to get us here.
Thank You
We appreciate You
Hero’s pay: “Full Options healthcare coverage – We’re getting a 2.5% increase in LA County’s contribution to our Options health benefits starting January 1, 2022“. How this will be handle, since we just did the 2022 annual benefits enrollment?
The County’s Open Enrollment materials did not reflect the negotiated 2.5% increase in the benefit contribution because the Agreement did not receive final Board approval until November 2, AFTER Open Enrollment had closed. SEIU 721 did send an email blast to members during Open Enrollment to explain this, but, of course, not all members read it. As a result, some members – those with Kaiser two-party, Kaiser family, and UHC Harmony, who are at the cashback cap of $244 – may not have allocated all available dollars. SEIU 721 has demanded that the County provide a second, brief, open enrollment… Read more »
In your Contract FAQ’s post (dated 07/26/21) you said to qualify for the extra $500 we had to come within 6 feet from co-worker or member of the public during the “pandemic between March 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021”. In this post, you say to qualify we must be “employed by LA County by July 1, 2020” and come within 6 feet.
Please clarify as we voted on the original wording.
Try accessing the mylacounty.gov website using a county computer and please let us know if you’re still having any difficulties getting the forms.
Here is a link to the Tentative Agreement Summary, the official document that was included with ballots that SEIU 721 members voted on: https://www.seiu721.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/LAC-2021-TA-Summary-11×17-1.pdf
Highlighted in yellow it clearly states that to receive the additional “elevated risk” bonus, an employee must be “Employed from July 1, 2020 through the payment date.”
Unfortunately, a prior FAQ posting, did NOT include mention of this requirement, a human error, for which we apologize.
Is there going to be an email blast from the county about when these forms are live? Checking the site as of right now (11/1/2021 09:04 AM) there is not an attestation form.
I’m so excited…. And I just can’t hide it…. I’m about to lose control… and I think I like it. 🙂
hello does this qualify for all county employees
The Agreement only covers SEIU 721-represented members, but the Board of Supervisors has approved bonuses for other County employees, including some, but not all managers.
I looked under forms and then countywide but the attestation form is not there
Did you try accessing the form using a county computer? If not, please give that a try and let us know if you still are unable to access the form.
I don’t see the self attest form..
Try accessing mylacounty.gov using a county computer and you should be able to see the self attest form. Please let us know if that does not work.
Please advise to where these COVID Bonus forms need to be sent or uploaded for further processing. Thanks.
Try accessing mylacounty.gov using a county computer — then click on ‘eFORMS’. The form should be found under the ‘Countywide’ tile.
Wish those of us who worked in the medical units of Juvenile Hall qualified for the added DHS bonuses.
We share this sentiment. Unfortunately, the money for the DHS bonuses comes from the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund, which does not allow for expenditures outside of DHS.
When is the last day to submit the Attestation Form?
The deadline for submission of the self-attestation forms is November 24. This is a HARD deadline for the DHS “Heroes” bonus, because the funding for those bonuses need to be spent by the end of the year. For the “COVID Appreciation” bonus, available to employees Countywide, November 24 is not a hard deadline, but members should complete the form by then if they want to get paid before the end of the year.
Why aren’t the people who worked during that time but are now retired or left county not qualified for that money? Especially since LA County forced them to work and also pushed some people to retire early? Why are they stealing money from people who are legally entitled to that money? Damn County always figuring out ways to screw over its employees!!
The County has a long-standing policy of not paying people after they leave County service. In the past, even when we negotiated retroactive salary increases that had effective dates prior to an employee’s separation, the County still did not compensate them.
It was not mentioned that we’d have to be employed by LA County by July 1, 2020 to qualify for the $500 bonus. Very misleading. Why was there a cut off date? The risk of COVID-19 exposure did not end after July 1, 2020.
We continued to work through the pandemic and it’s very disappointing to find out that we will not all be receiving the total bonus. We pay our dues and voted for the bonus. This is not fair representation.
Here is a link to the Tentative Agreement Summary, the official document that was included with ballots that SEIU 721 members voted on: https://www.seiu721.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/LAC-2021-TA-Summary-11×17-1.pdf
Highlighted in yellow it clearly states that to receive the additional “elevated risk” bonus, an employee must be “Employed from July 1, 2020 through the payment date.”
Unfortunately, a prior FAQ posting, did NOT include mention of this requirement, a human error, for which we apologize.
What about the part time employees who worked through the pandemic, but are no longer employed?
The County has a long-standing policy of not paying people after they leave County service. In the past, even when we negotiated retroactive salary increases that had effective dates prior to an employee’s separation, the County still did not compensate them.
What about employees who were hired November 2020? We were and continue to be working at the office during a pandemic. Will they receive some of the $500 from the “Covid Appreciation Bonus”?
Those whose employment with the County began after July 1, 2020 will qualify for a $1000 bonus, but are not eligible for the $500 “COVID Appreciation” bonus.
What about persons who worked as contracted employees from 9/2021 and is now permanent employee are they eligible?
No, the Agreement does not cover contract employees who are not represented by SEIU 721, and those who began working for the County since July 1, 2021 do not qualify.
For non-DHS employees, what is considered “during the pandemic”? Early on it started March 1, 2020, but now it doesn’t have a date. Can you tell us what dates?
March 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021
mylacounty.gov link doesn’t work
Please try going to mylacounty.gov using a county computer. It should be accessible that way. Then click on ‘eFORMS’ and the form should be found under the ‘Countywide’ tile.
So, if I had left the county in April of 2021, I do not qualify for bonus?
The County has a long-standing policy of not paying people after they leave County service. In the past, even when we negotiated retroactive salary increases that had effective dates prior to an employee’s separation, the County still did not compensate them.
For the additional $500 bonuses requirement, please define when is the start date of the pandemic.
Any time after March 1, 2020
The link does not work for Court employees.
Please try accessing the mylacounty.gov link from a county computer. It should work that way but let us know if it does not.
Hi, I just checked eFORMS on mylacounty.gov and the form isn’t showing. This article states that it will be available November 1. Please advise. Thank you.
It should be available — and the documents should be accessible using a county computer. Please try that and let us know if you’re still having any issues.
This is great, but there must be a glitch to fill out the form. I went to this site and was unable to fill the form out. The information at the top of the form will not auto populate. Some people at my work place did there form on Nov. 2nd.. and now on Nov. 3rd. it’s not working. Could someone from SEIU look into this please.
Please try going to mylacounty.gov from a county computer and let us know if you’re still unable to access the form.
Hello, How can employee’s who are currently on leave of absence from work submit request. Since they dont have access to mylacounty.gov at the moment.