County Seeks an Answer on Gorman Pay Issue

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed administrators Tuesday to report on whether the Sheriff’s Department still requires deputies’ wives to work for free at its Gorman substation.

The board’s order stems from a recent $1.1-million settlement of a lawsuit by the wife of a deputy who had been assigned to the substation alongside the Golden State Freeway in the remote Tejon Pass. Caryn Suhr and her husband, Mark, sued on grounds of sex discrimination and other violations of federal labor laws.

The Suhrs complained that she was required to clean jail cells, answer the phone and perform other tasks without pay at the substation. They said the department told them that wives of deputies assigned in Gorman traditionally did such work for free in return for the plum assignment in a rural area and because the deputies there work out of a home provided by the department.

The complaint also accused sheriff’s officials of harassing and punishing Mark Suhr because of his wife’s efforts to collect compensation for her work.

The couple and their attorneys won the settlement in July in an out-of-court agreement, even though a federal judge had dismissed Caryn Suhr’s complaint against performing unpaid labor.

On Tuesday, supervisors complained they did not know about the case until they read about it in The Times earlier this week.

“I didn’t hear about this,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said. “The only way I would have known about it is by reading the L.A. Times.”

County Counsel DeWitt Clinton told the supervisors that the lawsuit did not come before the board for approval because it had already been decided in court.

The board usually hears such legal cases only when county attorneys recommend the county make a settlement offer.

Molina said she was also concerned over whether deputies’ wives are still expected to perform free services. “I don’t know if it’s been corrected but it has to be corrected or we’re going to lose again,” she said.

The Sheriff’s Department has said the system is no longer in use.

The supervisors asked the chief administrative officer to compile the report, with contributions by the Sheriff’s Department and the county counsel’s office.

Times staff writer Martha L. Willman contributed to this story.