Court Officials Say They Won’t Close Facilities

A week after announcing plans for massive courthouse closures, Los Angeles County court officials said Monday that they would find the money needed to keep their doors open and avert mandatory work furloughs.

Court officials had warned employees last week that they planned to close all 59 court buildings in Los Angeles County for up to eight days over the next three months and send workers home without pay to avert an $8.2-million shortfall.

State and local court leaders and lawmakers began negotiating funding alternatives over the weekend, and said Monday that they had arrived at a solution that would avoid mandatory furloughs through this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Details of the plan are still being negotiated with lawmakers and other state officials.

William C. Vickrey, administrative director of the state court system, said the Los Angeles courts and the state Judicial Council “will work closely together to find a solution” that may include voluntary furloughs for employees, a concept that has been endorsed by an employee union. “We certainly don’t want courts closing,” Vickrey said. “And we don’t want the burden to fall on the staff.”

In a memo to the staff, Assistant Presiding Judge William A. MacLaughlin said the court also may consider eliminating overtime or offering compensatory time off instead of overtime.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the Los Angeles Superior Court was able ... to pressure the state for more money when we are in the biggest fiscal crisis in history,” said Damian Tryon, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. “I’m glad there was a way reached that avoided cuts to our employees, but that should have been the goal all along.”

On Friday, the court’s Executive Committee authorized Presiding Judge Robert A. Dukes and court Executive Officer Jack Clarke to shut down the entire court system to save an estimated $5 million. The court could save $644,000 a day in wages for its 5,200 employees.

Earlier, court officials had begun warning judges, lawyers and litigants that the courts would be closed April 17 and 23 as a cost-saving measure. Those closures have also been canceled. All California trial courts have been forced by the state’s fiscal crisis to reduce their budgets by an additional 1.3% for the current fiscal year.