Specifics of Luzerne County’s new union contract explained

Luzerne County Council significantly increased the starting salary for unionized assistant district attorneys and public defenders — a change pushed to help with recruitment and retention.

For full-timers, the entry salary will be $60,500 this year and rise $500 annually to $61,000 in 2024, $61,500 in 2025 and $62,000 in 2026.

The previous starting salary was $51,083 in the contract that expired the end of 2022.

Part-time assistant district attorneys/public defenders will start at $39,885 this year, compared to the previous $34,165. The starting salary for part-timers also will rise $500 annually to $40,385 in 2024, $40,885 in 2025 and $41,385 in 2026.

County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald had both highlighted the need to address compensation for attorneys in their offices to attract and keep workers. The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation also had emailed a letter to county council members in December expressing its “grave concern with the ongoing deterioration of indigent defense services” in the county due to assistant public defender vacancies and compensation.

Greenwald has said several other counties that pay assistant public defenders in the $60,000 starting range are not struggling with vacancies.

Sanguedolce told council during his 2022 annual report compensation for his attorneys was not keeping pace with their education, training and experience. Assistant district attorneys love the job but often resign because they can’t raise a family on what they receive when they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, he had said.

More similarly-sized counties have been raising the assistant district attorney pay to attract career prosecutors equipped to take on increasingly complicated cases, breaking from the old philosophy that the county DA’s office was merely a launching pad for attorneys to gain experience before advancing to better-paying private practice, Sanguedolce had said.

On Wednesday, the day after the contract was approved, the District Attorney’s Office publicly posted an advertisement on the county website seeking a full-time assistant district attorney at the new $60,500 starting salary.

Raises for others

Full-time assistant district attorneys/public defenders will receive raises through a new step increase progression schedule that covers up to 25 years of service.

For example, a new worker that starts at $60,500 this year will be receiving $66,148 annually in 2026, or the final year of the contract, according to the chart.

A full-timer with a decade of service will receive $67,485 this year and make $73,785 in 2026, the chart says.

The chart maxes out with a 2026 compensation of $83,143 if a full-timer has 25 years of service.

If a full-time employee falls outside this progression schedule due to years of service beyond 25, the raise would be 3% annually, according to a contract summary presented to council.

Part-time assistant district attorneys/public defenders currently below the new $39,885 starting rate will be brought up to that amount and receive 3% annually after that. Part-timers already surpassing the new starting rate will receive 3% annually and a one-time $1,000 bonus in 2023 that does not apply to their base salary.

Caseworkers and social workers in the public defender’s office will receive 3% annually over the four-year agreement.

Other changes

Except for an alteration involving the use of vacation time under the Family and Medical Leave Act, no other changes were cited in the summary presented to council.

Represented by Teamsters Local 401, the workers will continue paying 15% toward health insurance. All county employees covered by union contracts or memorandums of understanding are now paying at least 12%, while non-union county workers contribute 10%.

Council members Brian Thornton and Stephen J. Urban were the lone no votes against ratifying the contract.

Thornton said he thought the increase for part-timers was too high and not “fair” to full-timers and disagreed with the ability for part-timers to receive health insurance. He also said he is uncomfortable ratifying the agreement without receiving a complete written version.

Sanguedolce and Greenwald had supported the new agreement and expressed a desire to avoid binding arbitration, which was the way the previous contract was implemented.