Judge Rejects Bid to Block L.A. County From Privatizing Health Clinics : Court: Officials acted properly in approving pacts with private groups to run facilities, ruling says. Union claimed employees would unfairly lose jobs to private sector.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Monday refused to stop Los Angeles County from privatizing its health clinics, clearing the way for the county to begin restructuring its beleaguered health department.

Judge Robert H. O’Brien ruled that the Board of Supervisors and its health czar, Burt Margolin, acted properly when the county approved contracts with private health groups to operate county clinics.

Six such partnerships are scheduled to begin Nov. 1. By February, health officials plan to privatize most of the county’s 39 health centers and clinics to save money.

The supervisors, through Margolin, are attempting to change the county health department from a system dependent on inpatient care at hospitals to one focusing on outpatient care at clinics.

A decision to halt the partnerships, even temporarily, could have cost the county as much as $20 million a month, county officials said.

“If we had lost, it would have meant that we would have had to go back into the health department’s budget and cut even more,” said Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Sandra Davis. “The court did us a real favor.”

Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, which filed for the injunction Oct. 5, had argued that the county’s contracts with private providers were unfair because jobs that would have been filled by county employees might go to private-sector employees.

As part of the contracts, however, laid-off county employees have the right to refuse new jobs at clinics, although they might receive lower wages than they earned with the county.

Monday’s ruling follows three other failures this year of union challenges to layoffs in county departments.

Union representatives could not be reached for comment Monday.

In his ruling, O’Brien wrote: “It has not been shown that the discretionary policy decisions made . . . in approaching the undisputed budget crisis have been abused.”

Assistant County Counsel Douglas M. Main said the decision saved the county from certain peril.

“This would have been incredibly harmful,” he said. “Everyone knows the county has a very severe [budget] problem, particularly in the health department, and the county has done everything it can to meet all of its legal requirements to save whatever employees they could.”

Last week, the county dismissed--or issued dismissal, demotion or transfer notices--to about 3,000 employees in the department to pare a budget deficit that several months ago had reached $655 million.