ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Moods Get Darker Among Already Gloomy County Work Force : Reaction: Confirmation of massive layoffs further demoralizes employees. Some are literally ill, some call in sick when they’re not and some are scared to talk.

In a day largely devoid of humor, one county worker darkly joked Tuesday he might soon qualify for the welfare payments he customarily disburses.

“I’ve got to pay my mortgage, I’ve got car payments,” said the social services worker, who like most county workers spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I may have to apply for relief here--but I don’t know who would have time to do it.”

The latest round of 1,040 employee cutbacks further demoralized a work force anguishing over its future since the county filed bankruptcy Dec. 6.

“Everyone is saying why should we even come into work, we are just going to be laid off anyway,” said a county worker with less than two years at the social services agency. “Already people are calling in sick when they aren’t.”

Added one secretary: “There are a lot of people who are sick and taking medication because of this situation. We have worried single parents who are under a lot of stress. And the county has offered no help as far as counseling.”

County workers still don’t know who will be forced out or when. The workers say they fear that if they are quoted by name, they will be targeted for layoffs.

“You talk, you die,” said one employee who was taking a cigarette break in front of the County Hall of Administration.

Said another woman, “I wish I could say something. Maybe when I get laid off, I’ll talk.”

Even Sheriff’s Department employees, who have been relatively unscathed by layoffs, are anxious and some are talking about leaving, said Robert MacLeod, general manager of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.

“They’ve been nervous,” he said. Tuesday’s news “doesn’t help a bit.”

While deputies are considered vital to public safety and have so far not been targeted for layoffs, MacLeod said the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, as well as other Los Angeles County police departments, have been actively recruiting in Orange County over the past several weeks.

“A lot of our members are looking for jobs elsewhere. It’s going to end up impacting not only our members but the public,” MacLeod said.

“They just don’t view there being a lot of opportunity here in the Sheriff’s Department. They think advancement will be impacted. There’s talk of salary cuts. There’s just a lot of doom and gloom out there.”

MacLeod said the prospect of losing senior, experienced deputies to other departments is even worse than the specter of layoffs, which would likely hit deputies with the least seniority.

In contrast to the Sheriff’s Department, the Social Services Agency faces more layoffs than any other department. The agency will be forced to lay off 731 workers and leave another 255 positions vacant, agency officials learned Tuesday. Coupled with the 126 layoffs imposed in January, the agency ranks have fallen from a pre-bankruptcy figure of 3,679 to a proposed 2,567.

In one social services office, resentment against the supervisors, who many workers blame for the financial debacle, has festered.

For example, at the county’s social services building at 2020 W. Walnut Ave. in Santa Ana, the five color, oak-framed photos of the supervisors mysteriously disappeared one night about two weeks ago.

“The workers here loved it,” said one social services employee. “It’s their secret way to get back at them.”

For labor leaders, Tuesday’s sole bright point was a promise by county Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy to meet with them and consider holding public hearings on the cuts over the next 10 days. Labor leaders have been critical of county leadership for shutting them out of negotiations about their work force’s future.

Labor leaders say they will warn Popejoy and other county officials that the magnitude of the layoffs will slice deeply into county services and will aggravate hardships throughout the county as workers lose their income.

“Buying power goes down. Now you have people who are going to be collecting unemployment, possibly welfare,” said Bill Fogarty, executive secretary treasurer of the Orange County Central Labor Council.

“That cost is going to be a lot higher for us than any tax would. People are going to buy less in the stores. It’s going to cause some people to lose homes.”

Some workers, however, said they hope county leaders will muster the political will to raise taxes rather than waiting for the ill effects of the layoffs to trickle down.

The supervisors “are too afraid for themselves to raise taxes,” said one employee. “All it would take is a one-cent sales tax, and in three years the county would have its money back.”

Meanwhile, with their fates undetermined, some county employees are resigned to a worst-case scenario and have stopped worrying altogether.

“I haven’t been following the news of the layoffs, because if I’m laid off, what can I do about it?” said a woman who has worked for the county for five years. “You can’t stop it from happening.”

Linda Pierpoint, staff manager of the Orange County Employees Assn. said the fatalistic attitude of some employees is understandable.

“I think they’re scared, but if you’re standing in front of a firing squad, you get to the point when you just want them to shoot.”