Technical Difficulties Bring Luck to Calif. Workers

California’s outdated technical infrastructure has made 200,000 state employees very, very happy. After an injunction by the governor to cut workers pay to the state’s $7.25 minimum wage, the state controller has successfully argued that such pay docking would be impossible given the state’s outdated payroll computer system.

State Controller John Chiang has valiantly done all that is possible to fight against the proposed wage cuts. He said the technical difficulties will delay the cuts for at least two months, allowing state employees to receive their undocked wages for July and August.  —JCL

Los Angeles Times:

More than 200,000 state employees will receive their full wages in July and August after a state judge on Friday denied an injunction sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut their pay.

The Schwarzenegger administration had asked the court to order that the employees’ pay immediately be reduced to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour because there is no state budget in place.

The governor has maintained, and two courts have agreed, that state law requires the reductions as California enters the third week of the fiscal year without a spending plan. But state Controller John Chiang, who prints the paychecks, has insisted that he cannot implement the order because of the state’s outdated computer system.

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boc.ca.gov

California state Controller John Chiang, who prints state employee checks, says technical difficulties will prohibit wage cuts for at least two months.