The Service Employees International Union's top California officer has taken a leave of absence, and her former boyfriend has been ordered to return tens of thousands of dollars he received from the state council and Los Angeles local that she heads.
Annelle Grajeda is the third major SEIU leader to step aside following reports in The Times about the union's financial practices. The SEIU acknowledged Saturday that Grajeda was on leave as president of the L.A. local and the union's state council, and as an executive vice president of the national organization, because of allegations that she was improperly involved in the payments.
The union did not provide any details of Grajeda's purported role in the payment to the former boyfriend, Alejandro Stephens. The SEIU said it has demanded that Stephens, who was a longtime president of the Los Angeles chapter before it merged with several others, return the money.
An internal complaint filed Aug. 14 also accuses Stephens of remaining on the Los Angeles County payroll while drawing a salary from the union. Attempts to reach Stephens were unsuccessful.
Grajeda said Saturday that she was "very confident" the inquiry would conclude that she did nothing wrong. She said she could not discuss specifics. The inquiry is separate from a federal criminal investigation and congressional probe of another SEIU local in Los Angeles.
"Our serious concerns about these charges have been greatly elevated by the recently published article," states the complaint, brought by two members of Grajeda's local, which represents thousands of county employees including social workers, nurses and clerks. "We have grave concerns that this type of betrayal of public trust and malfeasance may be happening in our local union."
The SEIU is the nation's fastest-growing union, with 2 million members in North America and more than 700,000 in California. Grajeda's local has 77,000 members. She has been a close aide to its president, Andy Stern. The state council oversees the union's lobbying efforts in Sacramento and its get-out-the-vote drives.
In 2007, Stephens was paid nearly $14,000 by the Los Angeles office in "disbursements for official business" and $75,000 in consulting fees by the state council, according to the union's financial filings with the U.S. Labor Department.
