(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any full-time employee of any public agency who serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California shall not suffer any loss of rights, promotions, salary increases, retirement benefits, tenure, or other job-related benefits, which he or she would otherwise have been entitled to receive.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a), any public agency which employs a person who serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California may reduce the employee’s salary, but no other right or job-related benefit, pro rata to the extent that the employee does not work the number of hours required by statute or written regulation to be worked by other employees of the same grade in any particular pay period and the employee does not claim available leave time. The employee shall be afforded the opportunity to perform job duties during other than regular working hours if such a work arrangement is practical and would not be a burden to the public agency.

(c) The Legislature finds that service as a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California by a person employed by a public agency is in the public interest.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 417, Sec. 18. (SB 163) Effective January 1, 2012.)