PONTIAC - Pontiac Correctional Center workers cannot be laid off or transferred for the time being while the state prepares to close the prison by Dec. 31, a Livingston County judge ruled Friday.

Livingston County Associate Judge Robert Travers' preliminary injunction order prevents the Department of Corrections from laying off or transferring the workers until it negotiates with union officials over how to proceed. In a lawsuit filed Nov. 7, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees argued the DOC was not following contract language governing worker rights in layoffs and transfers.

The lawsuit is part of a larger legal battle AFSCME and Pontiac-area officials have waged to save the 137-year-old, maximum security prison and its more than 500 jobs. Travers said his decision was not based on that.

"I understand that this is high-profile litigation for the county and the state … and it is a matter of importance to the community," Travers said. "We are not entirely looking at the community and there is no question that (the closure) will have a devastating impact, but this is not that case."

The injunction took effect immediately after Friday's ruling.

DOC and union officials said they hope arbitration to settle the grievance in this matter will be finished within 30 days.

After hearing testimony from three witnesses and reviewing around 20 pieces of evidence, Travers found prison employees may be harmed if the DOC and AFSCME don't reach an agreement. Without information is such areas as seniority "bumping" rights and moving expenses, workers could be forced into potentially damaging career choices without all the facts, the union has argued.

"By reason of bumping or elections which would have to be made, I believe that irreparable harm and damage would occur if arbitration was not required," Travers said.

Travers will have a status hearing via telephone with both parties Dec. 10.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced in May he wanted to close the 1,600-inmate prison as part of a plan to cut the state budget, but formal notice of the closure was not announced until Oct. 24. Individual employees were given layoff notices on Oct. 31 and employee meetings with DOC officials began on Nov. 10, all without formal talks with AFSCME, union officials said.

Each side has accused the other of dragging its feet concerning bargaining.

"The union asked us for information about things like inmate transfers, construction of a facility, but nothing directly related to Pontiac Correctional Center," testified Mike Duffee, an attorney who handled labor relations concerns with Central Management Services, one of the state agencies named in the lawsuit. "The union really didn't have a focus."

AFSCME attorney Stephen Yokich saw it differently.

"The state argues that AFSCME delayed the process, but we believe that the state has manipulated the process," he said. "If anybody has unclean hands … it's the Department of Corrections."

This isn't the first court ruling this week that at least temporarily stopped DOC plans to close Pontiac prison.

A judge in Johnson County issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday to stop prisoner transfers out of Pontiac Correctional Center. The ruling came in a separate AFSCME lawsuit that contends inmate transfers throughout the prison system in preparation for Pontiac's closure endangered inmates and staff.