Squeezed by state budgets cutbacks, the Los Angeles County court system is
launching massive job layoffs, pay cuts and transfers, court officials said
Thursday.
Cutbacks that will be implemented Friday will affect 431 court employees and
56 courtrooms throughout the nation's largest superior court system.
Presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon bemoaned the loss of longtime employees as
well as the impact on public services. "We are laying off people who are
committed to serving the public," she said. "It is a terrible loss both to these
dedicated employees and to the public."
The union representing state and municipal employees called Friday's action a
"freeze on justice in Los Angeles" and warned that the county would experience
"an end to timely justice" with cases being delayed for years, particularly in
civil courts.
