LA board must harmonize child welfare with fair treatment of its employees

The tragic death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who was tortured and murdered three years ago by his own mother and stepfather, is causing some important soul-searching by local officials. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors can and should adopt whatever reforms are necessary to ensure that the Department of Children and Family Services prevents the next vulnerable child from becoming a victim of the very system that is supposed to protect him.

It is doubtful, however, that following the advice of critics of the county's Civil Service Commission, which reinstated a supervisor who apparently mishandled the assignment of case workers to Gabriel, would save the life of anyone. The critics' advice ranges from demanding that the commission's hearing officers have law degrees to stripping county employees of their civil service protections altogether. Taking these ill-conceived steps, especially the latter, would do little to protect future Gabriels, but would do much to undermine the financial security of the more than 100,000 employees and their families who depend on a decent county paycheck to make a living.

Civil service systems exist to protect workers from both arbitrary discipline by employer bureaucracies and political retribution by powerful adversaries, including taxpayers. One need look no further than Gabriel's tragedy, or the ongoing battle over teacher tenure, to understand this simple truth: When things go south in the public sector, government workers on the frontlines are the first to get blamed, whether or not they are personally responsible for wrongdoing. So their heads are the first to roll. A civil service system is all that stands between government workers and tremendous political pressure from voters, taxpayers and other constituents to "do something" at all costs.

Even so, civil service protection is no free pass for lousy workers. It is true that public sector employees have certain due process rights, including the right to tell their side of the story. But as a labor relations neutral for over 20 years, I know most civil service workers are going to lose their appeals. That's because most of them actually did something wrong. But I don't know who is going to lose until I hear the evidence, because each case turns on its merits.

On those occasions when workers win, there tend to be good reasons. For example, the employee's alleged misdeed was not proved, the employee committed a minor infraction but has an otherwise unblemished work record with many years of service, or management did not consistently follow its own rules. So before rushing to judgment about the entire civil service system, supervisors would be well-advised to consider the bigger picture, including the fact the system usually gets it right.

That said, there is always room for improvement in county government, including the hearing officer roster of the Civil Service Commission. The hearing officer is the one who presides over the hearing at which witnesses, documents and other evidence is offered, and who writes a report summarizing that evidence for the commission. So supervisors who are serious about reform should:

* Raise the pay of hearing officers. Hearing officers are like judges: We preside at the hearing and write a report setting forth findings of fact and conclusions of law. But for years, the commission has paid only $900 per day for this substantial work. That is about half the going rate; top labor relations neutrals in California charge as much $2,000 per day or more. (It is not unusual for private sector arbitrators in non-union workplaces to charge up to $10,000 per day.) If the county is getting what it is paying for, then it is getting cut-rate service.

* Bring back experienced hearing officers who quit in frustration over red tape. A few years ago, the county announced that hearing officers who wished to remain on the hearing officer roster would have to "rebid" by completing a two-inch stack of new paperwork. This new paperwork included filing an affirmative action hiring statement (even though hearing officers hire no one because they work alone) and writing a report on a "mock" case from a make-believe file (even though experienced hearing officers simply could submit representative samples of prior reports). Over 100 years of experience walked away when dozens of veteran hearing officers, including me, refused to engage in these pointless exercises, especially given the low pay. The red tape should be eliminated and the veterans brought back.

* Put someone in charge of dealing with hearing officers. When the new paperwork rules were announced, concerned hearing officers sought to negotiate or clarify the terms. But no official in county government ? neither the commission, nor its staff, nor the board of supervisors, nor the chief administrative officer, nor the county counsel ? would step forward to take responsibility for implementing the new regime, much less talk with us. In the vast bureaucracy of county government, the lights were on, but nobody was home. This mistake should be corrected.

The welfare of children like Gabriel Fernandez should be harmonized with a civil service system that ensures fair treatment of county employees. The board of supervisors can make sure this happens.

Christopher David Ruiz Cameron is the Justice Marshall F. McComb Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, vice chair of the Los Angeles Employment Relations Board, and a veteran labor arbitrator and civil service hearing officer. The views expressed here are his alone.