Professional Engineers in California Government, Plaintiffs and Appellants v. Arnold Schwarzenegger, As…

Summary

The court held that the Governor lacked independent constitutional or statutory authority to impose a mandatory unpaid furlough that reduced the wages of represented state employees, absent authorization in an applicable memorandum of understanding. The court nevertheless concluded that subsequent budget legislation authorized the existing furlough program as a means of achieving legislatively mandated reductions in employee compensation, thereby validating the program and defeating the employee organizations' challenge. The opinion was issued by the court and contains no separate opinions.