MEMBER FOCUS
Juneteenth
CSEA’s Historic Juneteenth Settlement Nears Completion
Four years after Juneteenth was first recognized as a federal holiday, CSEA has achieved what few thought possible: millions of dollars in compensation for thousands of classified school employees who worked on Juneteenth without receiving holiday pay and the permanent recognition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday for all classified employees in California’s public schools.
Thanks to the combined power of legal action, strategic negotiations, and legislative advocacy, CSEA’s historic Juneteenth settlement is now nearly complete, with nearly all eligible members having received the compensation they earned.
A Multi-Year, Multi-Front Effort
The journey began in June 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, creating a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. CSEA knew the President’s action immediately created a holiday for CSEA members and all classified school employees in California, due to state laws that provide for holidays when Presidents take such actions.
When CSEA affirmatively demanded the paid holiday from the nearly 800 school districts where we represent workers, some districts stepped up, but many did not.
Rather than accept this inconsistency, CSEA sprang into action. The union pursued a bold, three-pronged strategy:
- Bargaining with cooperative districts to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday so that holiday pay would be guaranteed locally for those districts.
- Filing a historic class-action lawsuit against districts that refused to compensate employees who worked on the holiday.
- Lobbying for legislation to clarify the law, eliminating any doubt that holidays created by joint Presidential and congressional action, like Juneteenth, are paid holidays for CSEA members and all classified employees in California schools.
Each of these efforts demanded immense coordination across the state. Field staff worked with hundreds of chapters to assess district practices. Member leaders mobilized in their communities to push local districts toward fair treatment. Legal staff built a case using a rare legal procedure, a defendant class action, to simultaneously sue hundreds of employers. This lawsuit eventually resulted in a court-approved class settlement covering more than 200 employers. And CSEA’s Governmental Relations team successfully pushed legislation through the Capitol to ensure Juneteenth was unquestionably a permanent statewide paid holiday for classified employees moving forward.
Real Compensation, Real Recognition
The result of these efforts is tangible. Members who worked on Juneteenth in 2021, 2022, or 2023 and were not properly compensated have now, through the settlement, received either pay or compensatory time off. Retirees who qualified under the settlement also received the compensation they were owed.
Members receiving compensation time
Members receiving cash compensation
Total members receiving compensation
To date, 25,511 CSEA members have received either monetary or compensatory time compensation. Altogether, members received 84,803 hours of comp time and $7,303,735 in cash compensation.
Total compensation time given
Total cash compensation paid out
Every district covered by the settlement has now been required to both issue backpay compensation for those who worked the holiday and observe Juneteenth as a paid holiday moving forward.
“This was about more than just back pay,” said CSEA Association President Adam Weinberger. “It was about justice, about recognition, and it was about saying that classified employees deserve the same respect as everyone else when it comes to honoring our nation’s history and our labor rights. And we got it done because of our members.”
A Team Effort from Start to Finish
CSEA’s success would not have been possible without the determination of its members and staff across every level of the organization:
- Field directors, labor relations representatives (LRRs), and chapter leaders worked one-on-one with members to identify who was affected and assist with the claims process.
- Legal staff fought in court to defend the holiday rights of classified employees and obtain fair compensation.
- Communications staff built a digital infrastructure to support claim submissions, including a multilingual website, guide for member leaders, and fillable forms.
- Governmental Relations staff fought for and won statewide policy change that will benefit generations of employees to come.
Thousands of CSEA members across nearly 300 employers have now been compensated, and Juneteenth is permanently recognized in California public schools thanks to CSEA’s relentless advocacy.
“This is what a union victory looks like,” said Weinberger. “When we act collectively, we do not just make things better for one person, we lift up an entire workforce. And in doing so, we honor our core values.”
As the final few claims are processed and the last employers fulfill their obligations, the Juneteenth settlement stands as a defining moment in CSEA history, one that proves once again the power of the union.