D.C.'s Top Lawyer Should Obey the Law

As an employee of the District of Columbia, interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles took an oath "to faithfully execute the laws of the United States of America and of the District of Columbia." Nickles's recent decision to fire eight city lawyers [Metro, June 17] in the union that I represent violates this oath and demonstrates a blatant disregard for the law, due process and basic fairness.

This decision was made after the D.C. Office of the Attorney General was directed to cut its payroll to make up a $3.5 million deficit. My union, which represents lawyers in the Office of the Attorney General, understands that drastic measures may have to be taken by the interim attorney general to fix the deficit. But firing lawyers in what is and has been a severely understaffed agency is the wrong solution to the budget problem. The union has offered to discuss several alternative measures, including furloughs and suspension of a 4 percent cost-of-living increase and bonuses. Management has rejected these options.

D.C. law and the union contract require that when an agency is faced with a shortage of funds it must undertake a "reduction in force." RIF regulations set forth an objective process for identifying the employees for layoffs and give the affected employees severance pay and other rights. The law does not allow the agency to target individual employees in a RIF.

Nickles is attempting an end run around the law under the guise of disciplining attorneys for "low performance." Last week, two Superior Court judges issued temporary restraining orders preventing the Office of the Attorney General from terminating the eight targeted lawyers on the grounds that the union is likely to prevail on the claim that the agency has violated RIF regulations. The judges also found that proceeding with the terminations would likely cause irreparable harm.

Despite the allegations of "low performance," all of the affected lawyers were rated "satisfactory" or better in recent evaluations. D.C. law, the union contract and basic fairness require that lawyers be told when their work is deficient and that they be given an opportunity to improve.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this issue is the apparent targeting of older lawyers for termination, which could be in violation of local and federal anti-discrimination laws. Five of the affected lawyers are 60 or older and a sixth is in her mid-fifties. Indeed, a May 23 Post article reported that the firings were "part of an effort to transform the agency into what interim Attorney General Peter Nickles called a 'first-rate law firm' with 'strong, young, able stars.' "

The lawyers for the D.C. government in my union work extremely hard, often with inadequate resources, to protect the city and its taxpayers by seeing that D.C. agencies and fellow D.C. employees follow the law. The interim attorney general should be held to the same standard. The city's lawyers deserve better.

-- Steven Anderson

Washington

The writer is an assistant attorney general for the District and president of the American Federation of Government Employees (Local 1403).