You can read the Sacramento Superior Court decision to deny Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to compel Controller John Chiang to issue minimum wage paychecks to state workers by clicking here.
This link opens our story about it in today's Bee.
On a related note, Judge Patrick Marlette on Friday also denied four unions' requests to join Chiang's side in the lawsuit.
Several labor attorneys pressed their case but Gregg McLean Adam, representing the California Correctional Peace Officers' Association, took the lead. He argued that the union would give voice to the harms of minimum wage to correctional officers and other state workers and that if not allowed to join this case, the unions would probably start filing lawsuits in other courts -- some of them against Chiang. (The state attorneys' union already has, as we reported here.)
California Association of Professional Scientists, Professional Engineers in California Government and SEIU Local 1000 also applied for "leave to intervene." The Schwarzenegger administration opposed the idea.
Marlette told attorneys during Friday's hearing that he recognized the harm of withholding state employees' pay to minimum wage, noting that the unions had presented declarations from many workers in their "friend of the court" briefs. But he said that Chiang would adequately represent the unions' interests, so he denied their request to become parties in the case.
Click here for Marlette's ruling on the unions' leave to intervene.
IMAGE: Judge Patrick Marlette / 2009 Sacramento Bee file
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