State Workers

Midtown's young and restless make the most of 'Funlough Friday'

By Anna Tong - Published: 12:00 am

From the painful pay cuts to extra minutes in the DMV queue, the toxic side effects of "Furlough Fridays" on California state employees have been thoroughly quantified.

Group again files proposed measure to reduce public pensions in California

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Saturday, November 7 2009 - 12:00 am

A public pension group has refiled proposed ballot measures that would create a mandatory second-tier pension system for new public employees hired by the state, counties, cities and other non-federal government agencies in California.

The State Worker: Public even notice 20% cut in work time?

Updated: Thursday, November 5 2009 - 10:45 am

Between unpaid furlough days and paid holidays off, most California civil servants won't work a five-day week again until Jan. 29. What's the impact?

The State Worker: Unelected can wield real power in California government

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Thursday, October 29 2009 - 12:00 am

California has two governments – the people we elect and the people who decide what really happens.

DMV training program tries to stem brain drain

By Jon Ortiz - Updated: Tuesday, October 27 2009 - 7:12 am

As California state government faces a growing brain drain crisis, the Department of Motor Vehicles is trying to blunt the impact by grooming its brightest, most promising workers to take over.

The State Worker: With cuts, unions feel abandoned

By Jon Ortiz - Updated: Thursday, October 22 2009 - 12:10 am

Just look at what has happened to state workers and their unions in 2009: Furloughs. Looming layoffs. Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday erased from the paid holiday calendar. New rules that make it harder to earn overtime.

How many state workers stayed home on Columbus Day? Depends on whom you ask

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Tuesday, October 13 2009 - 12:00 am

Several DMV offices closed, but state government escaped largely unscathed Monday from a Columbus Day contract dispute that had union leaders threatening to shut down operations.

The State Worker: California union will discover its clout on Columbus Day

By Jon Ortiz - Updated: Thursday, October 8 2009 - 8:43 am

We'll see on Monday how much pull the state's biggest public employee's union has - with its own members.

Is Columbus Day a holiday? State workers get conflicting advice

By Jon Ortiz - Updated: Sunday, October 4 2009 - 9:51 am

Their boss says one thing. Their union says another. Now tens of thousands of California state employees have to decide: Will they show up for work on Columbus Day?

The State Worker: California court loss on furloughs could be costly

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Thursday, October 1 2009 - 12:00 am

Sometimes it's the little stuff that gives you a sense of the bigger picture.

The State Worker: Cash poor, furlough lawsuit rich

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Thursday, September 17 2009 - 12:00 am

Legal fistfights have broken out from Hawaii to Maryland over public employee furloughs, but no place slugs it out like California.

California disability applicant arrested after video shows her bowling

By Andrew McIntosh - Updated: Tuesday, September 15 2009 - 10:50 am

A state worker who applied for a disability pension claiming that anxiety, chronic pain, and fatigue left her virtually unable to leave home or lift a coffee cup to her lips has been arrested after she was videotaped bowling in Elk Grove.

The State Worker: Corrections costs under scrutiny

Published: Thursday, September 10 2009 - 12:00 am

A new audit says that the state's prison inmate population fell 1 percent in the past three years – and prison costs jumped 32 percent.

The State Worker: Union seeks to shame Schwarzenegger into backing contract

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Thursday, September 3 2009 - 12:00 am

Teenagers and journalists will do anything to avoid embarrassment, but will that approach work on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger? The state's biggest public employee union is giving it a whirl.

The State Worker: More layoff notices? No big deal

By Jon Ortiz - Published: Thursday, August 27 2009 - 12:00 am

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in May that he was going to ax 5,000 positions from the state's payroll, you could feel the breeze faintly shift as a few hundred thousand veteran state workers let out a collective yawn.

State Worker: Layoffs likelier than fourth furlough day

By Jon Ortiz - Updated: Thursday, August 20 2009 - 12:46 pm

Is the administration gearing up for more layoffs? If so, does that mean that the governor won't order a fourth monthly furlough day to the three already in place?