An Alameda County judge on Thursday ordered back pay for tens of thousands of state workers who he had previously ruled were illegally furloughed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Judge Frank Roesch told the state to "immediately pay all employees of respondent departments and agencies their full salary without any reductions … and cease and desist the furlough of such employees."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Thursday night that the governor would appeal.

"Friday, Monday at the latest," McLear said. "That will stay the ruling. Ultimately that will be decided by the state Supreme Court."

If upheld on appeal, the judge's order would cost the state more than $1 billion that officials thought they would save when furloughs were instituted a year ago.

Roesch's decision affects employees in nearly 70 departments that receive all or most of their budget money from sources other than the state's general fund, regardless of their union affiliation.

Neither the state nor the unions have yet figured out exactly how much pay those workers have lost to furloughs since the policy started a year ago with two unpaid days off per month. Schwarzenegger added a third "Furlough Friday" in July.

At that time, government figured the payroll savings budgeted from Schwarzenegger's thrice-monthly furloughs would be approximately $2.5 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year – from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010. About $1 billion of that was expected to come from furloughing non-general fund state employees.

The distinction has been a sore spot for state workers and their unions, because the general fund, not special funds, is the source of California's serial budget deficits. Officials estimate that the general fund, proposed at $83 billion for fiscal 2010-11, will be about $20 billion short by the end of that year without deep program cuts or tax hikes.

Specially funded departments such as the Department of Transportation, the Employment Development Department and the California Highway Patrol receive most or all of their dollars from dedicated fees, the federal government or other sources.

Union lawyers successfully argued in Roesch's court during a November hearing that furloughing employees in those departments is arbitrary, harms government operations and violates the law.

The governor's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that furloughs have to be applied evenly to be fair and that savings in special fund departments helped the state's overall cash position.

On New Year's Eve Roesch issued a ruling that the furloughs were illegal, writing that spreading the pain of pay cuts across the state work force was not "rationally related to any government purpose."

"When the only justification underpinning the furlough of these employees that remains is 'labor parity,' the court cannot do otherwise than to conclude that respondents (in the administration) have abused their discretion," he wrote.

On Thursday, Roesch not only settled the question of back pay, he said the judgment applied to all workers in non-general fund departments, not just those represented by the unions that sued.

After the New Year's Eve ruling, union lawyers asked Roesch to expand his judgment to all furloughed state workers, including those paid through the general fund. His Thursday opinion denied that request.

The Schwarzenegger administration's appeal of the ruling will stay the order during the next stage of litigation unless the unions can persuade the court to lift the stay.

Yvonne Walker, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, said the back-pay order would apply to about 53,000 of the 95,000 state workers the union represents. Unions representing state legal professionals and doctors and dentists also sued and won with variations of the special funds argument.

"We're going to fight the stay," Walker said, predicting that state workers would be off furlough and receive their back pay sooner rather than later. "And we believe we'll win."

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Call Jon Ortiz, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1043.

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