Editor's note: This post has been clarified as to the entity responsible for repaying lost furlough wages to State Compensation Insurance Fund employees.
The judge who first ruled against part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough policy will hear another furlough lawsuit on Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court.
Judge Peter Busch will hear arguments in California Association of Professional Scientists v. Schwarzenegger on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
Busch handed Schwarzenegger his first furlough lawsuit loss last year by deciding that furloughs of about 500 legal professionals at State Compensation Insurance Fund ran afoul of state insurance code. A different San Francisco judge issued a similar decision in a second suit brought by SEIU Local 1000 that affected the remaining 7,400 fund employees.
The administration is appealing both decisions, but has paid back wages to all State Fund staff in the meantime. State Fund has paid back wages to employees in the meantime. (We're checking on the status of interest payments due State Fund employees that were part of the remedy in the SEIU case. We hear those checks haven't yet been issued.)
CAPS will argue on Thursday that Schwarzenegger shouldn't have furloughed Bargaining Unit 10 employees paid with money outside of the general fund. Three other unions made similar arguments in Alameda Superior Court in November and won.
Busch also is the judge in a case scheduled for a Feb. 3 hearing over whether the state can eliminate Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday as paid state holidays without bargaining. Click here for more about that matter, California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges, and Hearing Officers in State Employment v. Department of Personnel Administration.
Clicking this link opens our handy-dandy Furlough Fights spreadsheet, which lays out all 26 furlough-related lawsuits around the state.
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