Probation officers accuse Los Angeles County of unfair labor practices following forced redeployments – Daily News

This Jan. 24, 2016, staff file photo shows inmates at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, California.

The Los Angeles County deputy probation officers’ union has filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit against the county, demanding the reversal of an involuntary redeployment of more than 200 field officers to the county’s troubled juvenile centers , on a temporary and full-time basis.

The grievance, submitted to the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission, alleges that Probation Department management “unilaterally implemented changes in the terms and conditions of employment” of union members, without negotiation . The redeployments changed employees’ “work location, work schedules, vacations and supervision,” wrote Esteban Lizardo, an attorney representing AFSCME Local 685.

“In summary, the Department has reassigned these employees to an entirely different and more dangerous job classification than these employees’ actual job classification, which many of them have held and performed for over four years, many for more than 10 years, some for more than four years. more than 20 years,” Lizardo wrote in the filing.

Employees with medical restrictions or who could not meet the new physical demands were sent home and had to use sick or vacation leave to avoid losing pay. Moving hundreds of officers — either into the hallways or on forced leave — has created court delays and concerns about the department’s ability to monitor thousands of convicted felons on probation.

The union’s demand asks the Employee Relations Board to order the probation department to “cease and desist” the use of involuntary reassignments and forced furloughs, return all union members to their regular assignments and to “restore the integrity of all these employees”.

Probation department officials were not available for comment Wednesday, June 19, due to the holiday. Lizardo could not be reached for comment.

The county has struggled to keep its juvenile centers minimally staffed, largely because of an intervention crisis over the past two years. Detention officers, fearing violence and 24-hour work days, continue to call out in droves, leaving their colleagues – and juveniles – in increasingly poor conditions, which has only further exacerbate the crisis.

The influx of field officers reassigned to the halls starting in March was a last-ditch effort by the Probation Department to stop the impending closure of its two largest facilities, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey and the Secure Treatment Center for young Barry J. Nidorf in Sylmar. State regulators had deemed the two facilities “unsuitable” for confining youth and ordered them closed, but the increased workforce allowed the county to meet minimum state standards to continue to run before the timer runs out.

Probation officials said the redeployed officers were critical to maintaining compliance. Both juvenile facilities passed recent state inspections in May.

The personnel crisis has apparently only gotten worse in the meantime. Newly released figures show that a third of the Probation Department’s active staff are now on continuous or intermittent leave.

The numbers are even more dire in juvenile halls. This month, half of the 791 staff members working in the county’s juvenile facilities were on leave. Meanwhile, an average of 40 employees – or about 15% of non-furloughed staff – called into Los Padrinos each day in May.

The Probation Department is currently in the process of removing redeployed officers who have completed their 60-day rotation in juvenile halls and replacing them with a new group of field officers. The change is expected to be completed by June 20.

The unfair labor practice claim is unlikely to be resolved before this second redeployment. The union and probation officials must meet to review the claim and attempt to reach a mutual agreement before the matter can be sent to arbitration or the Employee Relations Board for a hearing. The commission is currently scheduled to hear the matter at its July 22 meeting.