by P.D. Lesko

Public employees who are paid for full-time work are expected to work full-time. Public employees who run for public office and who do so during the time they are paid and would normally be expected to be at work and/or in the office, are in violation of Michigan’s POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES Act 169 of 1976. In a June 17, 2024 email, Sheriff candidate Derrick Jackson announced he planned to violate Michigan law by “significantly” reducing his work hours until after the August 6, 2024 primary election. If Jackson uses those hours when he would be at his job to campaign, and he collects any part of his $112,516 salary as a public employee, he will be in violation of Michigan law. There is no indication that Jackson took an unpaid leave, or that his salary has been reduced proportionately.

For weeks, Sheriff candidate Alyshia Dyer has been vocal in her criticism of her opponent Derrick Jackson for campaigning while on duty, a violation of Michigan’s POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES Act 169 of 1976.

Jackson is employed by the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office as the Director of Community Engagement and earns $112,516 per year, plus benefits, the use of a County-owned vehicle and a county-paid phone.

In addition to Dyer, on May 17, 2024, an Ypsilanti resident submitted an 18-page campaign finance complaint against Jackson for allegedly campaigning while in uniform, while on duty, for using public-owned computer resources to create and post campaign videos on Facebook and YouTube, among other alleged violations. The complainant and Derrick Jackson recently received letters from the Michigan Secretary of State’s Elections Bureau. After Jackson received his letter, he sent an email to his colleagues in the Sheriff’s Dept. announcing his hours in the office would be curtailed until after August 6, 2024 (the day of the primary election).

The complainant, contacted by phone, said Jackson’s June 17 email, shared with them, will be amended to the original campaign finance complaint against Derrick Jackson.

Jackson’s options for leave under the County’s Business Rules, are parental leave, paid sick leave and balance accrued, or an unpaid leave of absence. “The use of vacation and compensatory time is available for use at the discretion of the Department Head.”

The Sheriff is Jackson’s department head.

Robert Lenhart is Senior Counsel at Covington and Burling, LLP. He specializes in public policy law. The law firm has helped write political law policies for a number of corporations and trade associations. Among the policies Lenhart sees as important to have in place before an employee runs for public office is a prohibition on exactly what Derrick Jackson says he’s doing in his June 17 email.

“Don’t [allow employees] to reduce normal levels of work. The employee’s candidate/officeholder activities should not reduce the routine level of work they provide,” says Lenhart. He says that employees should be required to request time off if candidate activities become more substantial. “If personal campaign activities reach a level where it reduces the usual level of work the employee provides to the company, and the employee is unable to make up this work in a reasonable time, employees should be required to request an unpaid leave of absence, or a part-time schedule with corresponding reduction in compensation based on your reduction in services.”

If Derrick Jackson is paid his $112,516 salary by the County while his work “availability is significantly reduced,” time in which he had said in other public communications he will continue to campaign for office, he will violate the Michigan POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES Act 169 of 1976. That Act states, “15.404 Active engagement in permissible activities; certain hours prohibited. Sec. 4. The activities permitted by sections 2 and 3 shall not be actively engaged in by a public employee during those hours when that person is being compensated for the performance of that person’s duties as a public employee.”

The email Jackson sent on June 17, 2024 was shared with the Ann Arbor Independent on June 18.

An automatic email reply in response to a request for comment from Jackson stated that, “I will be away from the office with limited contact until after August 6.”

The email sent to Sheriff’s employees, instead, claims Jackson will be available for emergencies and “working on several specific projects.” In short, he is not on leave.

Washtenaw County Commissioners Rabhi, Hodge, Beeman, LaBarre, Scott and Maciejewski, several of whom are running for re-election, were all asked to comment on Jackson’s plan to collect his pay while campaigning, a violation of Michigan law, including campaign finance law. None of the County Commissioners responded.

Likewise, County Administrator Greg Dill and County Sheriff Jerry Clayton were asked to explain Jackson’s email announcement. Neither of them responded.