Schwarzenegger Attorney Claims Lower Court's Labor Law Ruling Invalid

Sacramento, CAA lawyer for the administration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed a brief arguing that a recent decision by the state Supreme Court invalidates a lower court's decision regarding California labor law, reports the Sacramento Bee.

The purportedly invalidated ruling was handed down by the Alameda Superior Court in a case filed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) over issues of payment related to state furlough policy.

The CCPOA argued before the lower court that the state government's budget-restricting policy often resulted in prison staff working without pay during their furloughs, thus violating labor law provisions stating that docked pay for furlough time must occur during the same pay cycle.

The group claimed that a government decree mandating that unredeemed furlough time would not be redeemable after June 2012 was also illegal.

The California Supreme Court recently issued a decision stating that the legislature tacitly approved the furlough system in a 2009 budget bill. According to Schwarzenegger's attorney, this new ruling means that the legislature approved the governor's furlough policy as they existed, rendering CCPOA's arguments immaterial.

He also argued that the labor laws upon which the CCPOA based its argument were irrelevant because they do not cover state employers and employees.