The Los Angeles Superior Court announced that it is laying off approximately 300 employees, and closing more than 50 courtrooms, including implementing substantial changes on how it handles juvenile traffic offense.
Los Angeles Superior Court - Stanley Mosk Building
The layoffs are to take effect on June 30th, at the end of the fiscal year.
A spokesperson representing the court’s clerks and paralegals’ union, said she was aware of rumored layoffs and closings.
The Legislature cut Fiscal Year 2011-2012 funding for the judicial branch by $350 million, leading to a statewide cut of 6.7 percent for the trial courts. While the local court, which laid off 329 employees in 2010, was able to avoid layoffs for the current fiscal year, Clark and Edmon said in their memo last summer that the court would “do business in the future with a dramatically reduced budget.”
The Presiding Judge released a document showing that its cuts in staffing and services will close a projected deficit of $145.4 million for the year 2012-2013. These layoffs and court closures were expected after the Court said last August that the Court would operate with a drastically reduced budget, and anticipated laying off 1,000 employees over over the next 3 years.
These reductions in staff and court closures will certainly mean a drastic delays in civil cases going to trial within 1 years of filing of the Complaint as