Furlough Days Are Back
State workers are getting the cut again as furloughs are coming back in to effect. Less than a month after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ended furlough days , he is bringing them back for the more than 200,000 state workers. Several state workers employee unions sued to block the order , but a Sacramento court in 2009 agreed that the crisis was an emergency which allowed the governor to mandate furloughs to address it. This new scaled down version of the previous policy will take effect Sunday. This order marks the third time Schwarzenegger has cut state employees pay and hours.
The decision was made this week to reinstate the furloughs after Controller John Chiang stated that he would start issuing IOU’s in August or September in attempts to conserve funds. The states funds could run out as soon as October.
Like the previous furlough policy the new policy laid out in Executive Order S-12-10 requires state employees to take three unpaid days off per month with no termination date set. Furloughs could end when lawmakers pass the 2010-2011 budget which could be weeks or months after the legislature reconvenes next week. Around 156,000 state employees are covered by the new program which will reduce that staes monthly payroll costs around $147 million per month , around $80 million of that being general fund savings.
As with the last furlough policy GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger exempted employees with the Department of Forestry , Fire Protection , and California Highway Patrol. Also exempted are employees at the Board of Equalization , Franchise Tax Board , State Compensation Insurance Fund , Employment Development Board , California Housing Finance Authority, and California Earthquake Authority. The order also excludes around 37,000 state workers in six unions , also including those representing Firefighters ands Highway Patrol Officers that recently reached tentative labor agreements with the Schwarzenegger administration.
So once again state employees will make up for the shortcomings of the failed budget and pay for it out of there own pockets.
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