Csba Attorneys

03/26/2026

Reminder: The CSBA General Membership Meeting is happening THIS TUESDAY, March 31st at 6PM. We'll be covering a lot of highly relevant topics including Remote Work after the May 31st pilot program expiration date, the latest on what's happening in Albany on Tier 6 pension enhancements, what you should know about the new NYCE PPO city employee Health Insurance [featuring Guest Speaker Alan M. Klinger, Esq., one of its main union negotiators together with a Vice President from EmblemHealth], CSBA Security Benefits Fund (Welfare Fund) updates, a look ahead to Collective Bargaining and much more!

IMPORTANT: You MUST Contact us (csbainfo@local237.org) between now and Monday afternoon to get the Link to this member-only online event.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Best regards and thanks,
Saul

03/16/2026

Please plan to attend our Tuesday March 31st 6PM virtual CSBA General Membership Meeting. It promises to be a very full and informative meeting. I'll be sharing the latest word on remote work, plans for collective bargaining when our contract expires, and more. Others will provide Welfare Fund benefit, and Health & Safety, Grievance and Outside Counsel updates.

We have two OUTSTANDING speakers with everything you need to know about the new NYCE PPO healthcare plan for NYC employees: George Babitsch, EmblemHealth Senior Vice President, and Alan Klinger, Esq., Partner, Chair Labor Group Steptoe LLP, Outside Counsel to many of the largest public sector unions and to the Municipal Labor Committee (the "MLC").

Kindly contact us starting on the 24th for log-in information for this CSBA member-only event. Thank you as always for your interest and participation in our union, the Civil Service Bar Association!

03/10/2026

Help keep the pressure on Albany to improve Tier 6 pensions. Go to nysaflcio.org to send a letter to your State Senator and Assemblymember. We need their support for relief to be included as part of the NYS budget.
www.nysaflcio.org

New York State AFL-CIO Helping Working Families Achieve a Better Life The New York State AFL-CIO is a federation of 3,000 affiliated public sector, private sector, and building trades unions throughout the state, representing 2.5 million members, retirees and their families. Our members live and wor...

01/30/2026

Most of us (everyone hired on or after April 1, 2012) are only eligible for Tier 6 pensions, which is inferior to earlier pension tiers (i.e. Tier 4) in almost every way. You have to work longer (to age 63) to receive an unreduced pension, pay in a higher percent of your salary for your entire career, and receive a lesser percent credit per year worked. Although a relatively minor improvement in Tier 6 was made several years ago (calculating final average salary over your best 3 vs 5 years), so much more needs to be done to make Tier 6 fairer, and to attract and retain a talented professional workforce.

There will be a "Statewide Rally to Fix Tier 6" on Sunday March 8th from noon to 2PM at the MVP Arena in Albany, and buses will be available from Manhattan (and I believe Long Island, among other locations throughout the state) to bring us there. You do have to pre-register and let them know you need transportation.

A big turnout at this crucial time while our state legislators are in session is crucial to re-elevate this issue to the urgency it needs.

It’s been over a decade since Tier 6 became part of the New York state pension system. We have work to do to make public service retirement fair for everyone …

11/17/2025

Dear Colleagues,

The NYC Department of Veteran Affairs (DVS) and the NYC Office of Labor Relations (OLR) have asked us to invite a limited number of CSBA members to the Voice for Veterans Breakfast on Thursday, November 20th, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at District Council 37, at 125 Barclay Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10007.

Please register all participants using this link: http://on.nyc.gov/voiceforveterans

"The event offers a valuable opportunity to celebrate our veterans, learn about the unique challenges veterans face in the City workforce, explore the resources available to the veterans your union represents, and hear about DVS’s ongoing efforts to address veterans’ issues across the city."

Please contact for questions pamela.thomas@olr.nyc.gov or 212-306-7212.

Please also let us know at csbainfo@local237.org of your desire to attend, and we will seek to arrange release time for you.

✨ Please use this form to RSVP✨ 📍 DC 37 Headquarters 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY Thursday, November 20, 2025

11/03/2025

Thank you to the more than fifty members who attended our online meeting this past Wednesday evening. I truly appreciate you.

One final reminder: Tomorrow is Election Day! If you haven't already voted, please do so. NYC residents, we are not only voting for a new Mayor and Comptroller, but there are also six proposals on the reverse side of the ballot. Please read them carefully and choose wisely.

10/28/2025

Reminder: The CSBA General Membership Meeting is tomorrow evening (Wednesday October 29th). If you haven't done so already, email us ASAP at csbainfo@local237.org for the log-in link!

10/08/2025

Thank you and welcome to our newest members, the 19 newly-hired Agency Attorney Internes that CSBA receptionist/secretary Devin Rohena and I had the pleasure of speaking with on Monday at the ACS training! We wish you much success and remind you that you can always reach out to us for advice and assistance at csbainfo@local237.org. www.csbanyc.org

Thanks as well to the three new hires that CSBA Business Agent Lee Gordon spoke with at the same time at DSS/HRA.

09/26/2025

There are numerous advantages to CSBA being affiliated with the considerably larger Teamsters Local 237. Assistance with collective bargaining is by the top of the list. Another tangible, immediate benefit is the rapidly approaching Online Pre-Retirement Seminar with so much information that it's split between two evenings: Wednesday October 8 and Thursday October 9, 6PM. On the second night, NYCERS directly addresses us. For log-in or other information, contact retirees2@local237.org.

Speaking of Local 237's excellent Retiree Division, who our members greatly benefit from in retirement, they had a fun Talent Show today. One of the best musical guests was Linda Susswein, a retired Agency Attorney from the NYC Department of Finance.

09/18/2025

CSBA is one of more than 250 organizations to sign onto a letter opposing the US Department of Education's proposed rule to eliminate student loan forgiveness for employees of any government or nonprofit entity that the administration unilaterally deems hostile to one of their policies.

Here's the link to the press release and a copy of the letter.

ED’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ideologically targeting public service workers is a blatant attack on civil liberties.

09/11/2025

After we listened to and asked a few questions at the presentation for the proposed new health care plan for active city employees and pre-retirees (see previous post, just below), Lee Gordon and I also attended the ACS Employee Recognition Ceremony for 25-Year Employees.

Congratulations to Abbe Kalnick (who is also our 2nd Vice President), Jennifer Baum and Delano Connolly (not present) for achieving this significant milestone. Thank you very much for protecting vulnerable New York City children so well and for so long in our extremely difficult to retain title, especially given the tremendous stress and high caseload at ACS, where turnover is rampant!

09/11/2025

There is expected to be a new five-year Health Care plan for active city employees and pre-Medicare eligible retirees effective this coming January 1st. CSBA Business Agent/ Grievance Advocate Lee Gordon and I attended the two-plus hour presentation/ question and answer session yesterday morning at DC37 along with scores of representatives from the other municipal unions. [FYI, I also examined the underlying written agreement Monday afternoon].

Here's our understanding:

Most everything remains the same: the co-pays remain nearly identical, there's still no annual premium for us to pay (it was extremely hard to keep it premium-free); it's a PPO not an HMO; you can continue to use the same doctors; EmblemHealth (successor to GHI) still administers the "Downstate Counties" including NYC, Long Island, Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess & Ulster Counties, and the downstate panel of participating physicians within Emblem Bridge network has 78,000 doctors up from the 64,000 currently in the Emblem CBP network.

Behavioral / Mental Health coverage has a lot more participating providers. That's the one aspect of the plan which has shifted for us "downstaters" from Emblem into the United Behavioral Network.

The PICA drug program, which covers diabetic medicines, birth control, certain injectibles and chemotherapy medicines, which had run out of funds, will now be funded by the city and will still be administered by Express Scripts for 2026.

The annual transfer period (for active city employees to change health plans) will be delayed until November 1 - November 30. Information including the Summary Plan Description ("SPD") is expected to be sent out by mid-October. Shortly before then, we're told, there will be a so-called micro-site containing a lot of online plan information.

We'll see what happens, but we are guardedly optimistic and believe that relatively speaking, it sounds like a good plan.

These changes are expected to be approved on or about September 30th and to go into effect January 1st. We'll keep you posted.