Police Union Settles Suits Against City

The City Council this week approved a $280,000 agreement with the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. to resolve lawsuits alleging misconduct and violations of city policy on working conditions, including overtime and compensatory time off.

“I’m very glad that these cases are over, and I hope we don’t have to get to this point again,” Richard Wright, police union president, said Friday.

According to a statement released by the city Friday, the council agreed to settle the cases to avoid costly litigation and because it thought that would be in the best interests of the city.

“It is the city’s belief that both parties desire to put the old issues behind them in order to create more harmonious employer-employee relations,” the statement said.

One lawsuit alleged that the city failed to pay overtime and “stand-by time” to police detectives required to be on call. The lawsuit also alleged retaliation by Police Department management against union members after settlement of a legal action in March 1993.

Another lawsuit was related to a temporary restraining order sought by the city against the police union to prevent its members from engaging in any “sickout,” work slowdown or strike last Fourth of July weekend.

A third lawsuit involved 29 pending small-claims actions alleging city denial of compensatory time off.