4 Sue City Over Layoffs, Demotions

Four city employees in Thousand Oaks who were laid off or demoted last month filed a suit against the city Thursday to get their old jobs back.

James Farley, an attorney who filed the suit in Ventura County Superior Court, said Thousand Oaks exaggerated its budget problems so it could lay off workers Paul Myers and Mark Sudden.

Two other employees, Richard Lucchese and John Pavc, were forced to accept demotions and pay cuts, the suit contends.

In addition to their old jobs, the men want an unspecified amount of damages for lost wages, according to the suit.

Farley contends that the city has millions of dollars stashed away in reserves and in an account used for capital improvements that could be used to hire the men back.

“You can’t cry poverty when you’re not poor,” Farley said.

Sudden, 38, of Simi Valley said he worked more than 11 years for the city until he was laid off from his $26,040-a-year job as a street maintenance worker.

“I’m still in shock. It has had a serious effect on me,” said Sudden, who has two children to support. “I’m still looking. It’s pretty tough out there right now.”

City officials maintain that the layoffs of 13 people and the demotion of four others were necessary because of problems in balancing the $60.8-million budget.

Without cutting workers, the city would have faced a deficit, City Manager Grant Brimhall said. He denied that the city has surplus money to spend on salaries.

The city is restricted by municipal and state laws from shifting funds earmarked for the construction of roads and utilities to accounts used to pay workers.

“I could take those monies and use it for salaries, but I personally would be liable to pay that back, and I’m not going to do that,” Brimhall said.

Layoffs are at the heart of a dispute between the city and the Thousand Oaks City Employees Assn., the union that represents about 350 non-management workers, union spokesman Barry Hammitt said.

Hammitt said officials made no effort to cut back in other areas besides personnel.

The budget approved in June contains $3.5 million set aside for consultants and other professional contracts, up to $60 million in capital improvements and $7.4 million in cash reserves, he said.

The continuing dispute over layoffs is only one of several issues over which union and city officials have divided. They also have failed to agree on a new two-year agreement that governs salaries and benefits.

The old contract expired July 6, and last week the union declared an impasse in the talks.

In addition to a 10.5% increase in wages, the union is calling for an agency shop, which would require city workers to become members of the Thousand Oaks Employees Assn., a request that the city has strongly opposed. Only between 35% and 50% of the workers belong to the union.

The union has also called for a new procedure that would allow an outside authority to resolve employee grievances. Under the current procedures, the city manager is the final authority for unresolved disputes between supervisors and workers.

Contract talks are tentatively scheduled to resume Tuesday.