Professor West Comments on Sacramento County Job Action for Bee
Professor Martha West commented for the Sacramento Bee on Sacramento County's recent announcement that it plans to lay off employees, change their jobs to part-time, and rehire them in an effort to cut costs. The plan, which would impact more than half of the county's 12,000 workers, would save $4.6 million, but has been challenged by union officials who have questioned its legality.
Professor West told the Bee she had never heard of a move such as Sacramento County has proposed. She says the county is proposing laying off full-time workers and then hiring them back into "new" jobs at 9/10ths time. "I laughed out loud when I read it," West said. "This scheme would violate the contract."
Martha West is professor of law emerita at UC Davis, where she taught labor law for 25 years. Her recent research has centered on discrimination against women in higher education.