Ousted California union president demands removal of 42 SEIU board members in new lawsuit

Ousted SEIU Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown is suing the union and 42 members of its board of directors, claiming they inflicted “mental suffering and irreparable damage” after he was elected to lead the organization.

He is seeking $12 million and the removal of the board members. He is serving as his own legal counsel.

The suit, filed in Kern County Superior Court, marks the latest skirmish in an ongoing war for power within California’s largest state worker union, which represents about 100,000 workers ranging from engineering technicians to office assistants and prison librarians.

In the complaint, Brown rehashes his grievances with the union and board members who voted in October 2021 to strip him of his powers. The union locked him out of its Sacramento headquarters in February.

Brown asks the court to remove the board members from their positions and bar them from re-election for their “deliberant [sic], fraudulent, and dishonest acts along with their gross abuse of authority”. He also wants the union to pay his legal fees.

Hearings are scheduled for February and May of 2023 in Bakersfield.

Brown did not return messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Local 1000 declined to comment.

Power struggle in SEIU Local 1000

Tensions began when Brown was elected in May 2021, ousting longtime president Yvonne Walker with only 33% of the vote in an election with less than 8% turnout. His unconventional campaign platform included eliminating political spending, slashing union dues in half and extending voting to non-members, along with other changes that critics deemed unrealistic.

The new president faced resistance from his 65-member board just two and a half weeks into his tenure when board representatives boycotted his first meeting in July and it failed to reach a quorum.

By early September, board members were pushing to strip Brown of most of his presidential powers and transfer them instead to a leader chosen by the board. Brown would no longer have the authority to lead contract negotiations, serve as the union’s primary spokesperson, preside over board meetings or hire and fire staff, among other powers.

In early October, Brown faced two harassment lawsuits from former SEIU senior employees, one of whom said she was fired after she tried to report the harassment.

Ten days later, the board called a last-minute meeting over a weekend and 34 members voted to strip Brown of his presidential powers. A quorum of 33 members is required to hold a meeting. Brown called the meeting and vote “illegitimate” and vowed to suspend and discipline the board members involved. Board member Bill Hall, a district labor council president and Caltrans audio-visual specialist, led the effort to remove Brown’s powers and was chosen as the board’s new chairman.

Barred from entering union headquarters

Hall sued Brown in January 2022, asking the judge to remove him from power and bar him from running for re-election. That lawsuit, in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges that Brown violated union rules when he unilaterally decided to spend money on political campaigns, purchase software, pay off a $6 million loan on the union’s midtown Sacramento headquarters and give union employees an extra six days off — all without approval from the board and without disclosing details to them.

What followed next was a series of lockouts in February from the SEIU Local 1000 headquarters — first, of three vice presidents who Brown claims were “plotting to suspend him”, and then of Brown himself by those same three vice presidents.

Brown and about 20 of his supporters occupied the building in early March after gaining access without a key, and he removed several boxes of documents. The escalation led to a standoff, mediated by Sacramento police, between Brown’s posse and the three vice presidents he claimed to have suspended.

Hall filed for a restraining order against brown two days later, which a judge granted. The order was extended by a preliminary injunction later in March.

Sacramento Bee reporter Wes Venteicher contributed to this report.