The State Worker: California has spent $277,000 fighting prison officers' union

The State Worker

Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers

January 30, 2012

California has spent $277,000 fighting prison officers' union

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has spent more than a quarter-million dollars on outside attorneys to fight the long-running union paid leave battle with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, spokeswoman Lynelle Jolley said in an email to The State Worker.

As we mentioned last week in our Thursday column the tab for contract lawyers -- $277,393 to be precise -- was spent with no clear end in sight. That was one of several reasons that DPA decided to cut a $3.5 million deal with the union rather than allow the matter to drag on in court, probably for years.

We've contacted CCPOA spokesman JeVaughn Baker and asked how much the union paid for representation in the UPL tussle. We'll update this post with CCPOA's response.

The settlement is for about $1 million less than the state claimed the union owed, and about $500,000 more than CCPOA said it owed.

Below you'll find the agreement signed last Wednesday by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. (If your browser doesn't support Scribd, click here to see the document.)

Watch for a blog poll later today to gauge your opinion about the UPL agreement.
CCPOA UPL Settlement Agreement

Correction, 1:04 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the Department of Personnel Administration had paid for UPL attorney fees. DPA led the litigation for the state, but did not pay outside attorneys with its money.

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