County Lawyers May Lose Their Raises

In the market for a home loan, Ron Bamieh should not have been surprised when the bank officer asked the magic question: How much money do you make?

But Bamieh, a Ventura County deputy district attorney, said Thursday that he put his home loan application on hold because he did not have the answer.

Bamieh is one of 25 county attorneys who were given pay hikes in July, only to be told this week that raises were improper and are being taken back.

Thursday, lawyers released the list showing exactly how much the county says it inadvertently paid them. Overall, the 28 lawyers received $45,000 from the county and may now have to reimburse the money, said Thomas A. Mahon, county auditor-controller.

Bamieh, 28, might have to refund $1,125.

“I will say that I don’t legally believe they can take it back,” he said. He was making $40,000 a year with the raise and will be making $33,000 if county officials revoke it, he said.

County personnel officials said they plan to revoke the raises, starting with deductions in the lawyers’ first November paychecks.

Personnel Director Ronald Komers has said his staff mistakenly approved the raise. Because county employees were under a wage freeze from July, 1993, to July, 1994, the lawyers should not have received raises for their service to the county during that time.

For their part, the lawyers are fighting the county the best way they know how: They hired a lawyer Thursday to investigate their rights.

Kevin G. DeNoce, vice president of the district attorney’s association, criticized the personnel office for the flap.

“This is government bureaucracy. Inefficiency. Not knowing what they are doing,” DeNoce said.

“This is not a way to treat employees and to run a government business.”