AI took Nassau DA worker overtime, violated collective bargaining agreement, union says

The union representing paralegals, clerks and support staff says that the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office violated the terms of their labor contract by using an AI program from a Great Neck technology company to undercut its members' overtime pay.

The Civil Service Employees’ Association, Local 830, filed an "improper practice charge" against the prosecutor’s office last month with the state Public Employment Relations Board, charging that "a robotic process" was now doing work that had previously been done by union workers.

The union said in its complaint that for the last 10 years its members have been uploading police records, discovery compliance and court dispositions for the prosecutor's office. They said that the work, usually performed nightly, had been a source of overtime pay for its workers.

"CSEA filed an improper practice charge with PERB over the District Attorney’s Office’s rollout of an automated system that’s taking over work our members have always done," Local 830 president Kris Kalender said in an email statement. "The office made these changes without talking to the union, even though the law requires it. It’s unfortunate that we have to go through a legal process to get there, but we’ll protect our members’ work at all costs. We’re not against technology, but it can’t come at the expense of workers’ rights or jobs."

New leadership for the union, which represents about 4,200 union workers across Nassau County government, started in July. They speak for about 200 of the district attorney’s support staff.

Kalender said that he reached out to Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly several times since the summer to introduce himself and discuss the labor agreement, but she has not responded to his calls or messages.

According to the PERB complaint, which was filed Sept. 26, the contract does not expressly prohibit the use of the SVAM system.

Nevertheless, the union said that prosecutors failed to enter into any collective bargaining agreement regarding the change of practices and duties.

The union has asked the county to order Donnelly's office to cease and desist and pay the union members the wages that they have lost to the new program.

Donnelly’s office declined to comment, referring questions to the county spokesman, Christopher Boyle, who did not respond to inquiries.

The union has planned a "Rally against the Bot" for Oct. 14 in Mineola to protest the district attorney's expenditure on the technology company.

A 2019 change in the state law governing evidence, also referred to as discovery, has increased the volume of documentation collected by the district attorney’s office and required prosecutors to share the information with defense lawyers much earlier in the trial process.

Records of district attorney expenses, obtained by Newsday through a public records request, show that Donnelly’s office has paid SVAM more than $440,000 between Aug. 2, 2023, and June 24, 2024.

The company, which employs 800 workers — 400 in the United States and 400 more spread out over Mexico, Canada and India, did not respond to a message left seeking comment.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office also uses SVAM, according to a Newsday report. In 2024, SVAM hired the former commissioner of the Suffolk County IT department, the article said, after contracting with the county for $200,000 to process "health care programming, police department gun permits and other projects."

SVAM also worked processing paperwork for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Newsday reported.