Continuing with my recent tendency to expand beyond my stated mission for this blog, I wanted to comment on a series of public employment cases that came out last week. They are especially relevant because, unlike so many other cases, they are timely. The 26,000 teachers laid off recently, of course, are just the tip of the iceberg (and why California’s new U3 number is 10.5%).

International Union of Operating Engineers v. County of Plumas (9th Cir.) Triple forum shopping. They must be on sale. Here, Plumas county (which is beautiful, so don’t go there, go to Tahoe like everyone else…) removed a case to federal court and then decided that that court didn’t have jurisdiction. Anyone think these lawyers’ fees could have kept a cop on the street?

Hildebrandt v. St. Helena Unified School Dist. (1st Dist.) Part time employees of a school district (certificated–i.e. teachers) can’t bump a full time employee with lesser seniority. This case is critically important because when you have 26,000 layoffs that are by and large not based on merit (full disclosure: my wife, the 2006 County Teacher of the Year, was laid off before a whole cadre of pure shlubs), find your place in the line is the difference between a job and none. There will be more like this.

And, this advance sheet reads like it was “ripped from the headlines”:

International Assn. of Firefighters v. PERB (1st Dist.) “Faced with a severe financial crisis” city lays off firefighters. Describes some very narrow grounds for writ relief of a PERB decision not to issue an unfair labor practice charge. A decision to layoff firefighters is not one of them.

What might be drawn out of this is that the courts are affirming that public employment isn’t as safe as many people who got into it thought it was, and so, ironically, it may not be as cheap to get people in the doors in the future. These rules having been laid time in a time of crisis and legislative buffoonery will still be around later. Caveat emptor.