Internal Pages Top Image

About Us

History of the Personnel Commission

In the early 1930's, political corruption was rampant throughout the City of Los Angeles. Cronyism and patronage were prevalent at all levels of local government. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the situation resulted in the replacement of over 700 District employees by "friends" and supporters of local politicians. As a result, there was a reaction by concerned citizens who petitioned the State legislature for the establishment of an independent civil service commission for the District. The Personnel Commission came into existence on June 15, 1936, as the first legally sanctioned Personnel Commission in the country to administer a personnel program under a merit system for non-certificated employees of a school system. Its primary purposes were to ensure that employees are selected for employment and promotion solely on the basis of merit and removed for just cause. It also provided for an impartial body to adjudicate employee appeals of discipline, medical disqualification and examinations. Both employees and administrative representatives sponsored the merit system law when it was under consideration by the State Legislature and the Board of Education in a spirit of reform, formally adopted it.

The Personnel Commission is the merit system agency of the Los Angeles Unified School District, operating in cooperation with, but not under the jurisdiction of, the Board of Education. The Commission consists of three members whose terms of office are three years. One member of the personnel commission shall be appointed by the governing board of the district and one member, nominated by the classified employees of the district, shall be appointed by the governing board of the district. Those two members shall, in turn, appoint the third member.

Personnel Commissioner Profiles

One member of the personnel commission shall be appointed by the governing board of the district and one member, nominated by the classified employees of the district, shall be appointed by the governing board of the district. Those two members shall, in turn, appoint the third member.

Joseph L. Paller Jr.

Commissioner Joseph L. Paller Jr. was appointed to the Commission on August 30, 2001. He is an attorney with Gilbert & Sackman in Los Angeles. The Daily Journal (California's leading legal newspaper) has ranked Mr. Paller as one of the top 75 employment attorneys in California. In 2012, he was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in recognition of his professional achievements. Mr. Paller is an Adjunct Professor at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. For more than 20 years, Mr. Paller has taught classes for the Labor Center at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. Since 1995, Mr. Paller has served as an employment dispute arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Paller is both a Chapter Co-Editor and a Contributing Author for the current edition of the leading legal treatise on pension and welfare plans, Employee Benefits Law, published jointly by the American Bar Association and Bloomberg BNA. Mr. Paller is a former Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee in Washington, D.C.

Michael E. Hudson Sr.

Michael E. Hudson Sr. is a graduate of the Los Angeles Unified School District and spent his entire career as a District employee before his retirement with 34 years of service.

At LAUSD, he worked in the areas of labor & employee relations, talent acquisition, employee training, and television broadcasting for KLCS television. Since retirement, he has worked in temporary positions, including labor relations representative for LAUSD and director of human resources for Santa Monica College.

Mr. Hudson is also involved in many volunteer activities. He serves as a member of the Pacific University board of trustees and as a board member for Shoes for the Homeless, Inc. He also provides volunteer assistance in the area of human resources for non-profit organizations.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pacific University in Forest Grove Oregon, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Loyola Marymount University.

He has self-published a poetry book and two books of fiction.

Fernando Sanchez

Fernando Sanchez was appointed to the Los Angeles Unified School District Personnel Commission in December 2025, bringing extensive legal and public service experience to the oversight of merit-based employment for the district’s classified personnel. A Deputy District Attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 2017, Mr. Sanchez currently prosecutes complex fraud cases in the Healthcare Fraud Division, including workers’ compensation and disability fraud matters. Previously, he served as Special Assistant to the District Attorney (2022–2024), primarily coordinating the legislative unit and advising on open data initiatives. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sanchez was a Special Assistant to the California State Controller (2013–2015), where he managed statewide outreach on small business development and financial literacy and coordinated tax preparation services for low-income individuals. He also led the pioneering Open Data initiative that overhauled that office’s public data portal.

Mr. Sanchez earned a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law (2011), where he received the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award in recognition of his extensive pro bono work, including his leadership as President of the Unemployment Action Center, through which he provided accessible legal representation to unemployed individuals and trained fellow law students. Mr. Sanchez holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA (2007). Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Sanchez is also the author of several children’s history books and remains dedicated to public service, equity in employment practices, and supporting the LAUSD community through fair and transparent personnel systems.