Jerry Brown authorizes court-ordered pay raises for state scientists managers, supervisors

The Brown administration issued orders on Wednesday to give a total $56.4 million in raises to some 4,100 state managers and supervisors to comply with a lawsuit the state lost over pay parity for those employees.

According to the Department of Human Resources, about $32 million will go to 3,560 engineering managers and supervisors, or about $9,000 per employee for the year retroactive to July 1. About 570 scientists are in line for raises ranging between 26 percent and 42 percent, a total $24.4 million, or an annual increase of $42,800 per worker.

The raises make good on a 2008 court ruling that said the engineers’ and scientists’ managers and supervisors should be paid comparable wages for comparable work after several years of pay increases that lagged raises for the employees they managed.

Gov. Jerry Brown set aside money in the 2014-15 state budget to comply with the court decision.

This story was originally published August 20, 2014 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Jerry Brown authorizes court-ordered pay raises for state scientists managers, supervisors."