The Pinal County Attorney last week fired a quarter of his staff and today, Sheriff Paul Babeu announced his lieutenants and captains would become at-will employees.
The new plan goes to county supervisors tomorrow for action.
“Any senior level leaders and managers within the Sheriff’s Office exercise my command authority,” Babeu wrote in a Dec. 28 memo to supervisors. “These leaders are not first-line supervisors, yet are responsible for large and important responsibilities within the Sheriff’s Office.”
County policy gives Babeu the discretion to classify 10 percent of his workforce — or 65 people — as at-will employees. Under the plan, Babeu said, he would have a total of 37 uncovered positions.
If passed, one captain, eight lieutenants in patrol and investigations, seven lieutenants in the jail, and one director would lose their right to appeal any disciplinary actions before the county’s merit board. At-will employees can be terminated at any time without cause.
The lieutenants in patrol and investigations would get a salary increase, money the sheriff proposes to draw from a jail-improvement fund to spare any impact on the general fund. The captain, however, would lose more than $14,000 in annual salary. The other reclassified employees stay at the same wage.
