Important News for Registered Dental Assistants
Notice regarding elimination of the CDCR registered dental assistant continuing education unit reimbursement

On September 29, 2015, CDCR sent notice of their intent to eliminate the Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) continuing education unit reimbursement. As negotiated in our contract two of three salary ranges (Range T and U) are directly affected by RDA certification.

The reimbursement is covered by our contract agreement therefore CDCR does not have the right to unilaterally change the language we negotiated.

Prior to 2007, CDCR’s pay scale for dental assistants did not reflect RDA certification and the pay range was based solely on the ability to supervise inmates.  In April 2007, we negotiated salary increases for dental assistants, which established the current pay ranges that take into account RDA certification.

Shortly after the agreement, CDCR unilaterally eliminated the $100 differential that dental assistants with their RDA certification were entitled to receive. We felt that was a clear violation of our contract, filed a grievance and ultimately came to a settlement with CDCR.

This recent notice is another example of CDCR’s long-time mismanagement of our dental assistants and their repeated implementation of policies that violate our contract. We will fight this notice and make it clear that both our contract language and our dental assistants must be respected by CDCR.

Click here to read our response to the notice.

Please come back for more updates.