Douglas County and Sheriff’s Office Challenge State Labor Board Findings, Cite Freedom of Speech in Unionization Dispute

The ongoing tussle between the Board of Douglas County Commissioners, the Douglas County Sheriff, and the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics of Colorado has escalated as the officials from Douglas County have appealed against the findings of the state’s unfair labor practices investigation, as reported by

Douglas County

. The labor board had previously concluded that the county officials had breached the rules spelled out in the Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act (COBCA) with their statements during an attempt by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) to unionize the sheriffs’ deputies and sergeants.

On November 7, Douglas County filed their appeal citing disagreements with the legal interpretations and factual conclusions drawn by the CDLE, they have also requested a stay of enforcement until their appeal is resolved, while they assert they have spoken candidly and in line with their free speech rights, the County adds the CDLE’s findings lean on misinterpreted facts and entertain allegations that were not part of the FOP’s original complaint this factor contributes to their belief that the outcome was fixed in advance. Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said, as per

Douglas County

, “As the Sheriff, I stand firm that we did not violate the law, we did not threaten or coerce our staff, we simply shared accurate information so they could make an informed decision,” emphasizing his trust in the inquiry’s lack of impartiality and the predestined result of showing his deputies their collective bargaining was not necessary for his thirty-one years of service.

The whole incident stems from the fallout of the FOP’s efforts to push for the unionization of deputies, a move that was met with corrections of false statements by the FOP and a campaign by the county officials to educate the community about the ramifications of COBCA and collective bargaining, the Sheriff’s Office and Commissioners shared their beliefs openly concerning union representation, triggering the FOP to later file a complaint alleging that the County’s actions discouraged union membership against the tenets of COBCA. That debate over interpretation has since snowballed into an outright legal challenge from the County, which insists that free speech cannot be restricted and should not count as illegal within the bounds of Colorado.

This latest development comes in the wake of two lawsuits previously filed by Douglas County challenging both the adoption and application of COBCA, one of which questions COBCA’s reassignment of all county employees under the sole purview of the board of county commissioners and the other raising constitutional concerns over the law’s impact on personal and local government rights, both cases continue to loom on the horizon as the appeal proceeds. The CDLE’s modest mandate for the County post-investigation was simply to circulate its findings among the employees and to display a notice declaring the labor violation, an outcome Douglas County has opted to push back against to maintain public trust in elected officials, secure the constitutional rights for officials to communicate with their electorate, and prevent any potential overreach by the State using COBCA as leverage.

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