Cops Sue County Over Budget Cuts

UPPER MARLBORO, MD. (CN) – Police, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies sued Prince George’s County, claiming a forced-leave policy enacted to save the county $20 million violates a collective bargaining agreement. The county faces a $57 million budget shortfall.     The county says it cut $37 million in program and had to find the other $20 million somewhere, so on Sept. 16 it enacted an ordinance requiring all county employees to take 80 hours of unpaid leave sometime in the next 9 months. Law enforcement employees say they will lose $10 million, collectively. They want the “employee furlough plan” enjoined.     They are represented in Prince George’s County Court by Jeffrey Gibbs with Bredhoff & Kaiser of Washington, D.C.