For a quarter-century, Joseph John Jelincic Jr. has worked as an investment officer at the California Public Employees' Retirement System, figuring out where the mammoth pension fund should put its money.

But since January 2010, "J.J." Jelincic has exchanged his cluttered cubicle three days each month for a seat on a dais looking down on his supervisors.

Jelincic, a former trash hauler with a master's degree, isn't just an employee of the retirement fund. He's also an elected member of the CalPERS Board of Administration, the independent body that steers the largest public employee retirement fund in the nation.

It's an unusual position that puts him at both ground level and the apex of a 2,400-worker enterprise with investments around the world.

The dual role and the conflict-of-interest questions it raises have created a stir at CalPERS, where Jelincic's manager has refused to oversee his work.

Board President Rob Feckner said the fund has gone to great lengths to manage the potentially conflicting interests, especially since a CalPERS-commissioned investigation earlier this year revealed ethical lapses at the highest levels among former board members and executives.

"In theory, J.J. could gauge the performance and influence the evaluations of his superiors," Feckner said. "When those sorts of things come up, he excuses himself and leaves the room."

CalPERS has consulted with outside legal experts as different issues arose after Jelincic took his board seat last year, Feckner said, "just as we do for other board members."

This month, the board decided the fund would pay Jelincic's full $108,000-per-year salary but release him to work on board matters full time starting July 1.

Such arrangements aren't uncommon. At the same meeting, the board approved partially or almost entirely reimbursing the employers of three other board members, including Feckner, for time that they spend on CalPERS business.

"J.J. has a lot of folks he meets with. They're constituents of his," Feckner said, noting that Jelincic also travels extensively for outside training sessions and conferences.

"I think, quite frankly, (granting the release time) was mostly for management's comfort," Jelincic said, estimating he was already spending about two-thirds of his time on board business anyway.

After earning a degree in economics from St. Mary's College in Moraga, Jelincic decided he was "tired of working with my head" and hauled garbage in the Bay Area.

Over the next decade, he became a Teamsters activist. An injury opened the chance for him to earn an MBA. CalPERS hired him in 1986.

Jelincic remained a union activist, eventually winning two terms as president of the 140,000-member California State Employees Association from 2003 to 2007.

He lost a third CSEA bid, but in 2009 ran for an "at large" seat on the CalPERS board, backed by $200,000 independently spent on his behalf by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Fund members elected him with 51 percent of their votes.

As a self-described rank-and-file "worker bee" in CalPERS' investment office, Jelincic manages a sliver of the fund's vast real estate portfolio. No one answers to him.

As a board member, he is part of a body that charts the investment course for Cal-PERS' $238 billion in assets and hires and fires CalPERS' key top-level executives.

He can't be ignored

Depending on whom you ask, Jelincic is either a bombastic self-promoter or a principled fighter for the little guy. Either way, he can't be ignored.

During a March board session, Jelincic suggested that CalPERS quiz investment partners about whether they've backed efforts to change public employee pensions.

"Because, quite frankly, if people are funding our opposition, we should be aware of that," he said. "I wouldn't veto somebody because they took the opposite position. But we ought to know where they're coming from."

CalPERS attorney Peter Mixon quickly cautioned that "grading" vendors could violate free speech protections: "(That) is something we want to take a very, very close look at."

Jelincic's seat is one of six elected board positions. Political appointees, department representatives or elected officials such as Controller John Chiang round out the other seven spots.

Sometimes it's been 12 against one.

Not long ago, Jelincic opposed a Chiang bill aimed at slamming shut the revolving door that exposed CalPERS to influence-peddling scandals involving former board members and employees.

The bill places new and longer limits on when board members or key staff who leave CalPERS or the state teachers retirement system can return to do business with either fund.

Jelincic says those changes would unfairly punish staff and limit their career potential while making it harder to recruit top talent.

"Public employees are sick of taking a beating," Jelincic said. "We have enough trouble as it is getting people to work for the state without this kind of stuff."

Another measure would slash from $420 to $50 the annual cap on gifts that the two pension funds' board members or staff can accept from business partners or potential ones.

Jelincic abstained when all his colleagues voted in support last month. CalPERS staff won't be able to let company representatives pick up the tab in expensive restaurants in say, New York, he said. The state's per diem – $6 for breakfast, $11 for lunch and $18 for dinner – isn't enough to cover meals.

That would force employees to cover at least part of the meal themselves.

"Try buying dinner for 18 bucks in Manhattan," he said. He plans to testify against the bill at a legislative committee hearing Tuesday.

That contrarian streak has earned Jelincic both praise and criticism.

"With J.J., I see someone who is refreshingly candid," said James McRitchie, head of PERSWatch, a fund governance watchdog. "I don't always agree, but I respect that he speaks his mind."

Feckner, the board's president, called Jelincic "a very smart individual, but I hope he'll eventually see you sometimes get more with honey than vinegar."

Jelincic cites dilemma

Jelincic says his twin roles as an employee and a board member created a dilemma for at least some managers and staff.

CalPERS real estate investment portfolio manager Christine Gogan refused to supervise him, Jelincic said, because "she believes it's a conflict of interest for me to be on the board."

CalPERS spokesman Wayne Davis, speaking on behalf of Gogan, said that "she's not had any conversation with (Jelincic) about his board membership or any conflict of interest."

A fund employee also lodged a sexual harassment complaint against Jelincic that he believes was motivated by discomfort over his dual status as an employee who sits on the board.

"The accusation is without any merit," Jelincic said, and he has appealed the matter to the State Personnel Board.

The Bee wasn't able to obtain a copy of the internal CalPERS complaint. CalPERS spokesman Davis said via email: "We don't comment on confidential personnel matters."

Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS' chief real estate investment officer, who took over responsibility for Jelincic's work, declined The Bee's interview request.

"Ted has said that he enjoys having me on staff and that although I'm a board member, that I've never pressured him," Jelincic said.

When asked whether his board status might subtly influence the relationship, Jelincic said, "My feeling is that he's the boss, he gets to make the decision. Unless it rises to the point that I think he ought to be fired over it, it's not really a board issue."

Jelincic says that his "tie rule" helps keep his roles separated: When he wears a tie, he's a board member. No tie, he's J.J. the cubicle dweller.

A March 22 email from Jelincic to CalPERS staff illustrates the rule. After encouraging employees to attend an afternoon meeting with union officials, he closed the note with this line:

"By the way, this is JJ the staff person (no tie), not the Board member."

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