Layoffs in Goldsmith’s Office

Here’s an update on a story my colleague Will Carless wrote last year detailing the potentially costly choices new City Attorney Jan Goldsmith would face in deciding whether to keep attorneys who had served under his predecessor, Mike Aguirre.

Joan McNamara, president of the Deputy City Attorneys Association, told me that 10 of the office’s roughly 135 deputy city attorneys have been laid off since Goldsmith took office. She said the office opted to give the attorneys three weeks of severance pay instead of three weeks notice.

At least three attorneys weren’t represented by the union and therefore were not eligible for severance pay, McNamara said. Attorneys who haven’t been with the office for two years also aren’t eligible, though McNamara didn’t know offhand how many lawyers fell into that category.

The departure of deputy city attorneys was an issue under Aguirre, and McNamara said the office is “looking forward to some stability here.”

“We’re hoping for all of us it will be a lot more stable and a lot more comfortable environment to be working in,” McNamara said.

I’ve put in a request with the City Attorney’s Office for more information on the changes, and I’ll post updates when I get them.

— RANI GUPTA