Newsletters & Seminars

Peace Officer Group Granted
Severance From Civilian Union

By Michael A. Morguess
Lackie, Dammeier & McGill APC

Years ago the Los Angeles County coroner investigators were placed into the Los Angeles County employee association SEIU Local 660, composed largely of administrative and technical employees. Coroner investigators are peace officer under Government Code Section 830.35(c), and since Local 660 does not exclusively represent peace officers, the coroner investigators, in 1983, filed petitions for severance to exercise their right under Government Code Section 3508, which provides:

(a) [T]he governing body of a public agency may not prohibit the right of its employees who are full-time “peace officers” as that term is defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, to join or participate in employee organizations which are composed solely of those peace officers, which concern themselves solely and exclusively with the wages, hours, working conditions, welfare programs, and advancement of the academic and vocational training in furtherance of the police profession, and which are not subordinate to any other organization.

In 1983, the Los Angeles Employees Relation Commission (ERCOM) denied the petition, ruling that the Coroner Investigator Association should remain in Local 660 because there were no other appropriate units to accommodate the group, and under case law, the investigators were not entitled to be placed in a unit occupied exclusively by them because that would violate a County policy against the proliferation of small units.

Recently, Lackie, Dammeier & McGill pursued a new Petition for Severance for the Coroner Investigators. Lackie, Dammeier & McGill argued at that Govt. Code Section 3508 requires that the Association be in a group composed solely of peace officers, and that the County’s policy against the proliferation of small units violates Sectio 3508 to the extent it keeps the Association in Local 660, even if another existing bargaining unit was not appropriate for the Association. Local 660 vehemently opposed the Petition, arguing that the 1983 ERCOM decision precluded a petition based on similar issues, and arguing that it is doubtful coroner investigators are peace officers under Penal Code Section 830.35(c).

ERCOM granted the petition, and several existing peace officer units filed petitions for representation to represent coroner investigators. ERCOM (adopting the hearing officer’s decision) ruled that the 1983 decision, while it included the same issues, was no longer viable in light a number of intervening cases, including one that recently held that coroner investigators are peace officers for purposes of Section 3508. Although the County’s policy against the proliferation of smaller units probably could not bar a peace officer group from severing from a non-peace officer unit, this issue was not decided. The coroner investigator’s were placed into the Los Angeles County Police Officers Association (LACPOA) after a showing by LACPOA and the coroner investigators of a “community of interest” between the two groups. This not only increased LACPOA’s membership, but PORAC’s as well.