The labor battle inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has officially gone public. The union representing rank-and-file prosecutors has filed an unfair labor practice charge, accusing the county and District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s administration of refusing to bargain in good faith during contract talks that have stretched on for more than a year.
At the heart of the dispute, according to the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, is the office’s refusal to put certain agreements from joint labor-management committee meetings into writing. Union leaders say they treated this week’s filing as a last resort after what they describe as a long-running pattern of stalled and one-sided negotiations.
Union files unfair labor practice charge
The ADDA, which represents more than 800 deputy district attorneys, said it took its complaint to the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission after a year of talks failed to produce a binding deal. “Filing a UFC is a last resort,” ADDA Executive Director Melanie Bartlett said, while ADDA President Ryan Erlich argued that members had “spent more than a year making concession after concession” as reasonable union proposals were rejected without meaningful compromise.
The union also says management negotiators pushed back on proposals that referenced the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the state law that governs local public-sector bargaining in California. The ADDA maintains those statutory references are central to lawful negotiations, according to MyNewsLA.
Why written agreements matter
For the union, getting Joint Labor-Management Committee understandings in writing is not a minor paperwork issue. ADDA leaders say formal written agreements are key to transparency, institutional memory and continuity across changing district attorney administrations.
Under California’s Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, local public employers are required to meet and confer in good faith over wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. Allegations of bad-faith bargaining are processed through state and local labor agencies. The California Public Employment Relations Board describes those MMBA obligations in detail, while the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office explains how the county’s Employee Relations Commission handles unfair-practice filings.
Background: the union and a new DA
The ADDA is no stranger to policy and administrative fights with the DA’s Office and has previously taken its disagreements public. During the 2024 election, the union endorsed Nathan Hochman, a move that signaled prosecutors were hoping for a reset in how the office handled internal operations and labor relations.
On its website, the ADDA identifies itself as the collective bargaining agent for more than 800 deputy district attorneys and lists its downtown Los Angeles contact information, underscoring its role as the recognized representative for line prosecutors. That history and status help explain why union leaders say they expected a different tone under new leadership and why, when talks hit an impasse, they opted to seek outside intervention instead of quietly absorbing another stalled round of bargaining.
What happens next
The unfair labor practice charge will now move through county procedures at the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission. That body decides whether a complaint should be dismissed, steered into mediation, resolved through settlement talks or set for a formal hearing.
The ADDA says it is still open to returning to the bargaining table, but only if any eventual deal reflects what it describes as core principles of transparency, accountability and adherence to California collective-bargaining law. The District Attorney’s Office lists media relations contacts on its public website for inquiries, while the county’s employee relations office remains the official procedural forum for handling the union’s filing.
