Minimum Wage Threat to State Workers Removed for 2 Months

The governor’s attempt to impose the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour on state workers has been on temporary hold. The Sacramento Bee reports that the hold is effectively at least 2 months.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/17/2896268/judges-order-buys-california-state.html
The threat of paying the minimum wage did not apply to UC employees but had it actually gone into effect, it might have put UC in a difficult position. UC would be in the position of ending furloughs at the same time other state employees were at the minimum.

The minimum wage issue arises because there is no state budget in place and, hence, no authorization to pay most state employees. It has nothing to do with whether there is cash on hand to meet the payroll. There have been legal decisions that support the governor’s position over a period of years, including quite recently. However, the state controller argues that the state’s antiquated computers cannot be programmed to pay the minimum wage and then pay back wages owed when a budget is passed, without putting the state in violation of federal labor law.

The latest court decision will require a full hearing on this technical issue – which takes time. What the governor wanted was an immediate order pending such a hearing to pay the minimum. However, the decision noted that the requirement for an immediate order was based on “irreparable injury” to the state. However, because the state would eventually have to pay back wages to make workers whole, the court did not see such injury:

Paying prematurely what must be paid in the end anyway does not result in irreparable injury unless the premature payment causes other serious consequences.

Legal beagles can find the full opinion at:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/100716%20Marlette%20TRO%20ruling.pdf

UPDATE: With the minimum wage off the table for the governor as a bargaining chip on the budget, the governor announced renewed furloughs for state workers until a budget is enacted. Note that UC furloughs – which are outside this order – go through August anyway. So a disparity between UC and other state workers on furloughs would not appear until September – if the budget stalemate lasts into that month. On the furlough order, see http://bit.ly/8XEQrK