HUNTINGTON BEACH : Police Calling In Sick, Seeking Time Off

With the city preparing for Fourth of July crowds that in past years have turned rowdy, 97 of its 220 police officers have called in sick or asked to take earned time off this weekend, officials said Thursday.

Police Lt. Dan Johnson said that many of the requests for time off were denied “as being unduly disruptive to the ability of the Police Department to provide adequate public safety.”

That brought an immediate response from the Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn. The union said it will file a lawsuit against the city today over the denial of compensatory time off, which is granted to officers in lieu of overtime pay.

Richard Wright, president of the union, said denying time off violates terms of an agreement between officers and the city.

“It’s a flagrant violation of a court-ordered settlement, and we’re going to take every legal means at our disposal so it doesn’t happen again,” Wright said.

The union and city are currently at odds over a new contract offer, which includes no pay raises and proposes to eliminate officers’ ability to accumulate compensatory time off.

Wright said the union filed a lawsuit about three years ago over the compensatory time issue.

The settlement, he said, upheld officers’ right to receive earned time off if it is requested three days in advance.

More than half of the officers who requested time off Thursday, today and Saturday were turned down, Wright said.

Johnson said that an unusually high number of officers have called in sick for the past two weekends and that on Thursday, 23 of 30 detectives scheduled to work called in sick.

The large number of requests for time off and the sick calls appear to be related to increasingly tense labor negotiations, Johnson said.

As of Thursday, Johnson said, no officers had requested time off on Monday and Tuesday, which is July 4. The entire force is scheduled to work on the holiday, he said.