Lines of Authority Still Hazy : Civil Service-County Power Feud Not Over Yet
What began as a dispute over the demotion of several San Diego County contract specialists in 1982 has blossomed into a four-year internal power struggle that has cost the county about $100,000 in legal fees, plus considerable time and effort.
Eight county employees have sued the county in Superior Court, and legal action begins this month on multimillion-dollar claims of discrimination that grew out of the incident.
At issue is a gray area of authority claimed by both the county and the quasi-independent Civil Service Commission. The commission was separated from the county Personnel Department by a 1980 referendum, and its power to arbitrate disputes between county employees and personnel officials was untested.
Then in 1982, four contract specialists in the Social Services Department, who monitor the budget and performance of welfare contracts, were laid off or demoted because of budget constraints. The commission ruled that not only should they retain their old jobs, but they also were entitled to be upgraded to contract analysts, a position with about 5% more pay and more managerial responsibility.
The county refused to reclassify the jobs, and four other employees in the embattled contract specialist post joined the commission in advocating reclassification. Finally, all eight sued the county for not complying with the commission’s rulings.
Attorneys for the employees say the drawn-out battle stems from county officials’ stubbornness in defending its control of personnel affairs.
“The language is very clear in the charter,†said one source familiar with the case. “The commission was taking a pretty bold step in reclassifying . . . but the whole thing could have been avoided so easily if the county had followed the recommendation of the commission.â€
Daniel Sullivan, attorney for the employees, said county officials’ egos prompted them to stand firm. “They set up a very strong position and couldn’t back away from it,†he said.
Randall Bacon, director of county social services, said the county’s intransigence or petty defensiveness was not the problem. “I think that’s totally incorrect,†he said of the ego comment. “All the time there are cases where the commission rules against county management, so that’s not something management has a problem with. But some very critical issues were raised and actions were taken by the commission that the county felt were inappropriate.â€
Sullivan said the case was a precedent for affirming the commission as a stronger and more independent arbiter of county personnel matters.
“The McClure case (named for employee Ardelia McClure) was the first instance in which the commission came in and ordered a reclassification adjustment,†he said. “It was the first time the commission stood up and said to management, in a confrontational way, ‘Do this.’ â€
Robert Fellmeth, attorney for the county and a University of San Diego professor of regulatory law, said the case established no precedent for commission autonomy.
One result that bothers the commission and advocates of the employees’ position is the expense of the intra-county squabble. Attorneys said to comply with the commission order would have cost $3,500 to $5,000 per demoted employee and that at least $120,000 had since been spent on legal fees.
“As a taxpayer in this day and age of budget restrictions, you have to look at this thing and wonder what they are doing throwing a quarter of a million dollars at this thing,†said Pat Thistle, attorney for the employees.
“Taxpayers’ money down the drain†is how another observer described the battles. “They’ve cost the county up to a million dollars if you add it up.â€
County officials say clarifying lines of authority in county government is a matter of principle, essential despite the cost.
“A government entity needs to stand up and defend itself to prevent being run over with track shoes,†Fellmeth said. “Everybody pushes until they’re pushed back. That’s human nature. It’s very common that government agencies will collide.â€
Bacon said the legal tangle was worth engaging in.
“There has to be some clear understanding in terms of the authority of the commission,†he said, “and that was what the lawsuit was all about.â€
Assenting to the commission would have created a management and budget nightmare in which promotion and demotion power would have been unclear, as other employees stampeded to seek similar changes in their job classes, said Ethel Chastain, county director of employee services.
“Not having authority could potentially cost millions in the long run,†Chastain said. “That’s why the county balked. . . . It opened us up to additional uncertainties.â€
Fellmeth said the issue was not cost, but the commission’s proper role.
“The commission’s fundamental role is to defend the meritocracy,†Fellmeth said. “It is not there to engage in rulemaking without board review and to create positions for which there is no budget or to take people who are petitioners and jump them over other people on the civil service list because they are involved in litigation.â€
The commission and county agreed last year to settle the job status of the eight employees. They agreed seven of them should be rehired as analysts, the position the commission sought, with back pay. But the commission agreed to adhere more strictly to county charter guidelines that said changes in job status must go through the county Board of Supervisors.
A June 30 writ of mandate from Superior Court Judge Mack Lovett, issued after 10 exhaustive hearings, stipulated the details of reinstatement of the employees.
But future commission-county lines of authority are still hazy, and the specific feud is not over. Sullivan represents the employees and is seeking $2.3 million in damages against the county and payment of $75,000 in legal fees for violating employees’ civil rights during the affair. “They have been suffering from the pangs of the county’s action and retaliation since 1983,†he said of his clients.
The county attorney said no discrimination against the employees occurred.
“Nobody is a villain here,†Chastain said. “It was very easy for misconceptions to come forward. So people dug in their heels without going back and untangling what the impact was and what the facts were.â€
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