L.A. County failed to act on crime checks
Managers have known for months that a number of workers at Los Angeles County medical facilities have criminal records, but they took little or no action, county Chief Executive Officer William T Fujioka said Monday.
Fujioka said the information was discovered after the county ordered fingerprints from all 1,600 employees working at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor hospital when it closed inpatient services nearly a year ago.
The California Department of Justice returned with information that some employees had previously undisclosed criminal histories. But the county's Human Resources Department did not take appropriate disciplinary action against them, Fujioka said.
He declined to say how many employees were involved or what criminal offenses were found, though he said more information might be revealed today after he consults county attorneys.
Some of the convictions are serious enough to prompt immediate disciplinary action against the employees, including termination, Fujioka said.
County job candidates are required to disclose any criminal convictions on their job applications, and employees face dismissal if they conceal criminal records.
Those convicted of crimes while employed by the county have their records evaluated for possible discipline or dismissal.
Additionally, eight or nine employees have refused to provide their fingerprints for a background check, according to a senior manager who asked The Times for anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.
"It is unacceptable for any of our employees to refuse," Fujioka said. "Such a decision will be considered insubordination and will be disciplined."
The lapse in the county's response to the criminal information was discovered in recent days after the Board of Supervisors ordered a thorough review of problem employees from King-Harbor.
The review was in response to a report in The Times that the county had failed to fully track employees who had been disciplined by their managers.
Fujioka said the county would also try to identify the workers who failed to initiate action against the convicted employees for probable disciplinary action.
The department discovered last week that the information about the employees had been neglected, but county officials were initially reluctant to reveal the problem, despite the supervisors' request to quickly disclose bad news.
