Milwaukee County Sues Sheriff

Labor problems continue in the state of Wisconsin as the sheriff for Milwaukee County has been sued by the county because he refused to lay off 27 deputies after being ordered to do so. He also told those deputies to keep coming to work each day.
In the county’s 2012 budget, the 27 deputies were laid off but Sheriff David Clarke Jr. “directed his Human Resources Manager Marlo Knox to contact those deputies sheriffs [sic] who received layoff notices, and order them to report to work as usual, disregarding the action taken by Milwaukee County,” according to the complaint filed in Superior Court.
According to the county, Clarke “has no authority [to] retain or continue the services of deputies who have been laid off due to lack of funds in accordance with Milwaukee County Civil Service Rules and applicable collective bargaining agreements.”
The original budget called for the firing of 61 deputies but a high number of retirements dropped the number down to 27. Kimberly Walker, the Corporation Counsel for the county, said that “an unusual step” to sue the sheriff because “he is operating outside of the authority that he’s granted. If something happens, then we are exposing the county to liability, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute,” Walker said.
Walker went on to explain that because the 27 deputies scheduled to be laid off are essentially working without legal policing powers, “Anyone who they arrest, cite or injure could sue the deputies and the county.”

The complaint filed by Milwaukee County says that it is liable “for wages and benefits, and to liability for other employment related costs such as worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, and vicarious liability for employee acts and omissions, arising from the wrongful retention of those deputies, and no funds have been appropriated to pay those costs. Such acts expose Milwaukee County to liability for failure to adhere to the terms agreed upon between Milwaukee County and the deputies’ union related to the collective bargaining agreement. Such acts expose Milwaukee County to liability for alleged violation of the civil rights of persons arrested or otherwise detained by the unlawfully retained deputies because of the uncertainty concerning the status of those deputies as law enforcement officers.”
The complaint also says that Clarke violated laws of the state, ordinances from Milwaukee County, and the civil service law when retaining the laid off deputies because “such an act is in excess of his lawful authority.”

Clarke described the 2012 budget of the county as “a train wreck of a budget … so screwed-up it’s unbelievable. It decimates public safety in Milwaukee County.”

Clarke also said that the only thing he cares about in this “whole ball of confusion … is the safety and personal security of the people of Milwaukee County.”