California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment has filed its opening brief to appeal the Sacramento Superior Court ruling that upheld Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs.
Here's the union's introduction to its argument to the Third District Court of Appeal:
In the history of the State of California, no Governor has sought to unilaterally impose furloughs on state employees. Nothing in the statutory framework governing State employer-employee relations authorizes the unilateral implementation of furloughs. Nothing in the MOU between the State and CASE authorizes the unilateral implementation of furloughs. Governor Schwarzenegger, like his predecessors before him, has acknowledged that the Governor lacks the power to unilaterally implement furloughs. Notwithstanding the dearth of authority and the admitted lack of same, Respondent unilaterally implemented furloughs on CASE members. The Executive Order imposing the furloughs cited only a single, inapplicable statute as the basis for the order. The trial court offered alternative bases purporting to authorize furloughs, none of which withstand scrutiny. The ruling of the trial court, if allowed to stand, will allow all future Governors to create "emergencies" justifying an extraordinary power never before thought to exist, which is not contemplated in any statute, regulation, or contract, and which would fundamentally alter the nature of labor relations, and would render collective bargaining and any resulting MOUs meaningless and subject to unilateral rescission at the whim of the Governor. Accordingly, the trial court's ruling must be reversed.
Click here to download the entire 34-page PDF file.
The CASE brief follows one filed Monday by California Association of Professional Scientists and Professional Engineers in California Government seeking to overturn the controversial decision by Judge Patrick Marlette. You can click here to read the previous post on that filing.
Thanks to several readers for alerting us to this latest development in the case.
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