An appeals court has set a Feb. 23 hearing to debate whether state workers in so-called "special fund" departments have been illegally furloughed.
SEIU v. Schwarzenegger involves three Alameda Superior Court decisions that determined furloughs for special-fund departments were irrational, arbitrary and interfered with those departments' ability to legally function. The rulings, which were consolidated when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed his loss to San Francisco's 1st District Court, affected employees covered by SEIU Local 1000, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists and California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment.
The case went on hold while the California Supreme Court took up PECG v. Schwarzenegger, which involved the larger question of whether the governor could unilaterally impose furloughs. (No, the court said on Oct. 4, but the Legislature can and did by approving a budget that assumed furlough savings.)
Then the 1st District Court told the SEIU parties to submit new arguments in light of PECG. They did, so now we have a hearing date. Whether it will go off isn't clear. The Brown administration has asked for hearing delays in other labor litigation, including another furlough case (involving State Compensation Insurance Fund employees) with the 1st District Court. The court granted the delay in that matter.
IMAGE: www.yolocourts.ca.gov
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