Appellate Court Upholds Ruling in Favor of Sheriff's Union

An appellate court panel upheld Wednesday a ruling which found the county of Orange erred when it hired civilians to do jail work normally performed by sworn sheriff's deputies.

The ruling affirms that the county should have met and conferred with the deputies’ union to discuss how such reassignments would impact the bargaining association and its members.

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs sued the county last year after the sheriff's department—in an effort to save money—filled office work positions in jails with non-sworn correctional services assistants.

The union claimed that county officials failed to meet with it in collective bargaining to work out the reassignments. 

The appellate panel of three justices led by Richard Fybel, with Kathleen O'Leary and Raymond Ikola said Wednesday they concur with an October ruling by Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino, who cited "well-established'" state Supreme Court precedent.

"These opinions establish that a public employer must meet and confer
with the bargaining unit regarding a decision to transfer duties away from that bargaining unit and the impacts of such a decision, when the purpose of the decision was to save labor expenses," the ruling read.

— City News Service