The State Worker: Cash Poor, Furlough Lawsuit Rich [Goverment by Judiciary!]

Sacramento Bee ^ | September 17, 2009

[Steelfish]

The State Worker: Cash Poor, Furlough Lawsuit Rich

Jon Ortiz

Sep. 17, 2009

Legal fistfights have broken out from Hawaii to Maryland over public employee furloughs, but no place slugs it out like California.

By this column's count, there are now 19 furlough lawsuits in California courts.

About 729,000 public employees in 21 states have taken or will soon take furloughs. Most of those plans have gone forward without a single legal punch.

But no other local, regional or state government in the nation has reduced employee hours and pay by three days per month, or 14 percent. "And our governor chose to impose furloughs on labor," said Tim Yeung, a Sacramento-based employment lawyer. "Most entities negotiated furlough terms with their unions."

Those two factors invited litigation, said Yeung, a former state labor attorney who now represents local governments in labor talks.

Hawaii's governor wanted thrice-monthly furloughs, but the courts there said that would violate the state's constitution. A Maryland judge last month said a furlough plan for its county employees violated the U.S. Constitution by cutting wages promised through collective bargaining.

Lawsuits here also argue that the governor's order illegally broke labor agreements. Others claim that the policy is arbitrary and irrational. Two judges have already rendered narrow judgments against the governor that free a combined 7,900 employees from furloughs based on insurance law that excludes their agency from staff cutbacks.

A couple go the other way, with the governor fighting to force agencies or elected officials to comply with the order, which a lower court has said is legal because the state's abysmal finances justify it. The unions are appealing that decision.

[2banana]

OK then - just lay them off already and permanently CUT salaries and pensions.

[The Comedian]

Unions for government employees should be illegal. It's insane to give an entire parasite class en masse the ability to force its host to accept larger and larger chunks taken out of it.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[ridesthemiles]

Most union contracts I have worked under stated how much per hour I would make, and that after 8 hours per day, I would get time and one half.

I don’t ever remember any contract stating that I would get a full 40 hours each and every week.