Judge bars suspended California union president from SEIU Local 1000 headquarters

A judge granted a temporary restraining order Thursday against the president of California state government’s largest public employee union, ordering Richard Louis Brown to leave the organization’s Sacramento headquarters, return documents he took from the building and stop exercising the powers of his office.

Brown entered the building over the weekend, even though three vice presidents had suspended his presidency of SEIU Local 1000 and locked him out of the headquarters.

The controversial union president has been feuding with other leaders of the union, including many members of its board of directors, since his election nine months ago. A group of fervent supporters has continued to back him.

Some of his supporters gathered at the building Saturday for a protest, and one of the supporters grabbed an entrance door as it was swinging shut. The supporter let more people in, including Brown. Brown immediately removed boxes of documents and drove them away in a car.

The group refused to leave, saying they had the right to be there. Brown argued his suspension and lockout had been illegitimate.

Bill Hall, an SEIU Local 1000 board member, filed for the restraining order on Tuesday. Brown was posting videos from inside the building as of Wednesday night.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steven Gevercer wrote in his Thursday order that irreparable harm could occur if he didn’t grant the order, and found that Hall had demonstrated “a likelihood of prevailing on the merits.”

Gevercer ordered Brown not to keep or destroy any Local 1000 property and not to obstruct or interfere with the union’s operations or affairs.

Brown left Thursday afternoon, saying he would follow the court’s order, said Jim O’Donnell, a Local 1000 spokesman.

O’Donnell said the inhabitants of the building had breached three secure departments inside the building, including human resources, accounting and legal.

“We are deeply concerned about the accessing of or removal of confidential documents,” O’Donnell said.

Gevercer scheduled a hearing March 25 at which the terms of the temporary restraining order could be kept in place through an injunction.

About 40 members of the union’s board of directors met Saturday and voted to support Brown’s suspension. Twenty-five participants also supported proposals to strip leadership powers from Brown — and future presidents — and to transfer them to a board-selected chairperson.

The group selected Hall as chairman.

Brown has not acknowledged Hall as chairman, saying the meeting was “illegal” since he didn’t call it, as specified in the unions’ policy documents.

Brown has been asking supporters to send him money to help cover legal expenses, and he’s been asking them to send him written statements supporting him, which he has called affidavits.

This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 5:12 PM.