PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
PPOA genuinely hopes that our active and retired membership, and their loved ones, had a patriotic and festive July 4 celebration. No matter your political persuasion, the United States is and will always be the world’s great beacon of liberty and independence. Here’s to America’s 249th anniversary of Independence Day!
Now on to some concerning LASD decisions that became effective June 1 and July 1 regarding PPOA members assigned to County Services Bureau (CSB). On June 1, one Sergeant and two Sheriff’s Security Officers (SSOs) assigned to Libraries were involuntarily displaced due to a proposed contract termination of May 1.
On July 1, three Sergeants, two Sheriff’s Security Assistants (SSAs) and 32 SSOs assigned to Probation Department, Department of Public Health, Registrar–Recorder, Behavioral Health, Zev Y. Family Support Center and the Sherman Block Building were involuntarily displaced due to proposed contract termination dates of June 1.
To be certain, when PPOA became aware of the Probation Department’s proposed contract termination (two Sergeants and nine SSOs) on December 3, 2024, “meet and confer” was demanded to discuss all impacts to our 11 members who would be involuntarily displaced from their present job assignments. PPOA demanded that the Department offer a countywide job fair for our members to select available vacant positions, and a job fair date of May 29 was agreed upon. Also, the movement date for our 11 impacted members was mutually set for July 1. If only this were the end of our ongoing saga with CSB and the Department.
On Saturday, March 15, PPOA President Steve Johnson contacted the Department regarding several sources advising PPOA that, in addition to the termination of the Probation Department contract, it was the Department’s intention to terminate multiple contracts with various County of Los Angeles entities.
On March 18, PPOA was advised of the Department’s intention to restructure CSB, which would impact several contracts. President Johnson demanded to meet and confer on March 18.
On March 26, the Department provided PPOA with the information on members who would be impacted by the proposed “restructuring of CSB,” and also advised that it was working with PPOA to schedule a meet-and-confer date (eventually set for May 8).
Besides the above impacted personnel (four Sergeants, two SSAs and 34 SSOs), the Department provided additional restructuring information pertaining to the termination and partial termination of three additional contracts: the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Department of Health Services (DHS) (see chart below).
The total number of impacted CSB personnel assigned to the final three proposed contract terminations is four Lieutenants, 24 Sergeants, a staggering 119 SSOs and 11 Law Enforcement Technicians (LETs).
On May 1, President Johnson and I met with Sheriff Luna at the HOJ to discuss the proposed termination of 11 contracts, which, if fully executed, impact four Lieutenants, 28 Sergeants, 78 Deputy Sheriff generalists, 154 SSOs and 11 LETs. PPOA expressed our vehement opposition to the proposed termination of contracts, especially since the proposals to do so were initiated by the Department and not their clients, who were funding these service contracts with absolutely no cost to the Department. Although the Department has stated that there will be no layoffs, PPOA is nonetheless looking at 197 union jobs being eliminated as a result of the Department’s actions. To PPOA’s knowledge, none of the contractual County entities had any complaints regarding the quality of professional public safety services provided by our CSB personnel, especially our SSOs, who are the classification most negatively impacted by the Department’s proposed actions.
Sheriff Luna expressed his understanding of PPOA’s opposition to the termination of contracts, but was making his decision based on his belief that it would improve employee wellness by using the displaced sworn CSB personnel to fill sworn vacant positions at the Department that are presently being filled by mandatory overtime. Before the meeting concluded, PPOA asked the Sheriff to rescind the proposed termination of contracts. PPOA remains committed to opposing the termination of the DPSS, DMH and DHS contracts.
In closing, if you are one of the 158 PPOA members who are impacted by the Department’s proposed actions that are to occur in December 2025, March 2026 and June 2026, rest assured that on July 2, PPOA demanded to meet and confer with the Department. If you have not received any information regarding PPOA’s continuing opposition to these three proposed contract terminations, please email info@ppoa.com.