Oon May 16th, UAPD was dismayed to learn that San Francisco’s First District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision in favor of UAPD on the issue of furloughs.
In a case first filed in 2009, UAPD argued that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had not received proper authorization from the Legislature for furloughing state workers, and that by furloughing workers paid from sources outside of the state’s general fund he had misappropriated federal and special fund monies. At the end of 2009, UAPD received three favorable decisions from Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, who called for the immediate end to furloughs of workers paid by federal or special funds and authorized back pay for time already lost. Schwarzenegger filed an injunction to prevent the implementation of Judge Roesch’s ruling and filed several appeals in January of 2010.
Earlier this month, the three San Francisco appeals court justices ruled unanimously in favor of Schwarzenegger, citing a 2010 ruling by the California Supreme Court to say that the Legislature had retroactively authorized furloughs, regardless of funding source, with the budget legislation it passed after the furlough policy was already implemented. UAPD is considering whether to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, in order to challenge the idea that the Legislature has the right, retroactively or not, to redirect federal and special funds.