Governor Drops Minimum Wage Lawsuit
February 15, 2011


Today Governor Jerry Brown agreed to drop the lawsuit that sought to pay state employees minimum wage during a budget stalemate.  In turn, CAPS will drop its challenge to Governor Schwarzenegger’s order to pay minimum wage.
CAPS President Patty Velez released the following statement:

“Governor Jerry Brown has done the right thing by dropping the minimum wage lawsuit,” said Velez.  “It isn’t fair or reasonable to expect state scientists to work for minimum wage because the governor and state lawmakers can’t agree on a budget.”
This is a huge victory for State Controller John Chiang, CAPS, and other state employees as it significantly reduces the threat of minimum wage during a budget impasse.  With planned upgrades to the state’s computer payroll system and with new litigation, the minimum wage threat could surface again.  CAPS will again be sponsoring legislation to fix this problem by continuously appropriating state employee salaries to ensure all state scientists are paid in full and on time.

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Minimum Wage Threat Diminishes
July 26, 2010

It now appears increasingly likely that state employees will continue to receive full wages through at least September 2010--even if the budget impasse continues.
 
This morning Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette set August 26, 2010 as the hearing date where certain issues in the minimum wage litigation will be decided.  Significantly, the court will NOT decide the main issue in the case, which centers on the Controller's ability (or lack of it) to pay the federal labor law minimums using his antiquated computer payroll system.  The hearing on the "infeasibility" argument has yet to be scheduled.  Scheduling is dependent on the parties to the litigation exchanging information on relevant documents and witnesses, and that will take time.
 
This is GREAT news for all who want to see state scientists and all state employees paid IN FULL AND ON TIME, and another defeat for Governor Schwarzenegger.  
This morning's hearing continues legal activity in the Governor's lawsuit seeking to force State Controller John Chiang to pay all state employees the federal minimum wage, which for most employees would be $7.25 per hour.
 

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Victory on Minimum Wage!
July 16, 2010 

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette earlier today ruled that State Controller John Chiang MAY continue to issue FULL paychecks to state scientists and all state employees in spite of the Governor's order for him to issue minimum wage paychecks.  Chiang argued that the state's payroll system is not capable of issuing minimum wage without saddling the state with sizable penalties for violating wage and hour laws.  CAPS appeared in court and supported Controller Chiang with a lawsuit of its own.  CAPS has Marlette's ruling under review and anticipates that Governor Schwarzenegger will continue his efforts to force issuance of minimum wage paychecks.  Nevertheless, it appears likely that paychecks will be in full and on time--at least for the July pay period.

 

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Controller Still Says NO! to Minimum Wage
July 2, 2010 


State Controller John Chiang remains firm in his resolve to pay state employees in full and on time in spite of a ruling from the Third District Court of Appeal this morning.  That ruling upheld the Governor's authority to order minimum wage to state employees in the event of a late state budget.  CAPS applauds Controller Chiang for his sensible leadership and willingness to stand up to Governor Schwarzenegger's efforts to use minimum wage to get his budget demands met in the legislature, and to force CAPS to accept pay and benefit cuts for state scientists.  Here is today's statement from Controller Chiang, verbatim:
 
"As expected, today's ruling by the Third District Court of Appeal restates the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in White v. Davis, but goes several steps further by saying my office could be excused from reducing the salaries of some 250,000 employees to minimum wage if it is practically infeasible to do so without violating federal labor laws and the State Constitution.
 
Like the Supreme Court in White, the appellate court declined to resolve the feasibility issue.
 
This is not a simple software problem.  Reducing pay and then restoring it in a timely manner once a budget is enacted cannot be done without gross violations of law unless and until the State completes its overhaul of the state payroll system and payroll laws are changed. 
 
I will move quickly to ask the courts to definitively resolve the issue of whether our current payroll system is capable of complying with the minimum wage order in a way that protects taxpayers from billions of dollars in fines and penalties."