ALAMEDA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: COURT TO REDUCE CLERK’S OFFICE HOURS

Clerk’s offices will close to the public at 2 p.m. each Friday as mandatary furloughs reduce staff

The Superior Court of Alameda County will close clerk’s offices at its eight courthouses an hour early every Friday to help compensate for a reduced workforce caused by mandatory furloughs. The new hours will begin on Friday, November 22, 2024.

The reduction in public hours, closing at 2 p.m. instead of 3 p.m., is a result of the Court instituting mandatory furloughs to most staff to help offset a $4.3 million budget cut caused by a reduction in state funding. The state cut a combined $97 million from trial court budgets in California for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

While public in-person hours will be reduced, customers will still have access to the Court’s e-filing system and can utilize drop boxes located outside each clerk’s office to file documents.

The one-hour early closure is necessary to provide a limited staff on Friday time to process the hundreds of documents that are filed each day. The clerk’s offices will also close one hour early on Wednesday, November 27, 2024 (the day before Thanksgiving), which is also a furlough day.

The Court proposed these new Friday hours in September and opened a 60-day public comment period as mandated by state law. The Court did not receive any comments about the early Friday closures.

“We’re trying to accomplish as much as possible with a significantly reduced workforce on Fridays,” said Presiding Judge Thomas J. Nixon. “We appreciate that early closures are inconvenient for the public and we regret having to institute such a change.  Unfortunately, at present reducing the hours our offices are open on Fridays is essential to ensure our reduced staff can process all documents that are submitted in a timely and efficient manner.”

The Court announced in September that it began a mandatory furlough program in which almost every employee will have to take off one Friday each month without pay. The program was designed to limit disruptions of critical court functions including all criminal hearings and trials and ongoing civil trials.

The furloughs are just one of many cost-cutting measures taken by the Court this year. The Court has also instituted a hiring freeze for over 100 positions, a soft freeze on all other positions which prevents the hiring of a replacement for 90 days after an existing employee leaves their position and a voluntary non-paid time off program during the week of Christmas.

You can view the full notice here.