District Clerk Employees

There is a big problem with operations in the judiciary and frankly, if they had the will power, the judges could fix it.

Most of their clerical staff, the ones that work in their courts, don't actually work for the judges. They work for the District Clerk, Norma Favela.

As I have written recently I talk to all kinds of people in the courthouse and by far the most unhappy department of workers is the District Clerk's Office.

Things are so bad there that following this post there will likely be someone looking into who talks to me, who reads my blog, or who leaks complaints.

The morale complaints range from policies about dress code that have been characterized as "abusive" to problems with getting leave that is due to the employee, being in trouble for trivial issues, allegations of favoritism, to complaints about having to participate in the over-the-top holiday celebrations.

From my conversations with county staff and elected officials the biggest complaint is the fact that the staff work in courts, but their boss is in the lower level of the courthouse.

But make no mistake, electeds have made numerous notes of the fact that some of the district clerk best employees often have problem with taking leave (that is due to them). Frankly, that happens because AFSMCE is basically non-existent in the county. If they got off their ass and represented workers to the extent they are supposed to, they could fight off a lot of draconian policies set forth by that office.

The bottom line is that county leaders are not pleased with how district clerk employees are treated.

And you as taxpayers should be annoyed at how much focus there is on non-office related stuff like voting for Favela to be favorite elected official and parties that according to staff, often affect their evaluations if they choose not to participate because they are told they "aren't team players".

Seriously people, when even the electeds notice the treatment, its a bad thing. For now the judges are essentially powerless to do anything about it because the employees belong to the District Clerk's office and she is an independently elected official.