Fighting to launch state worker furloughs this week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filed an appeal Tuesday to overturn a court order temporarily blocking the forced time off.
Schwarzenegger, in documents filed with the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, said the temporary restraining order against furloughs is "fraught with error."
It "will exacerbate the ongoing fiscal and cash crisis in California and will correspondingly harm the state and the public," the appeal said.
Schwarzenegger is seeking to lift the order issued Monday night by Alameda Superior Court Judge Steven A. Brick that blocked furloughs planned for Friday. The appellate court did not indicate when it will rule.
The governor wants to force more than 144,000 state workers to take three unpaid furlough days per month until a new state budget is passed – cutting their salary about 15 percent – to conserve cash for key health and safety programs.
A legal challenge by state worker unions sparked Monday's order by Brick, who concluded there are "serious questions" about the legality of furloughs and that permitting them before a scheduled Sept. 13 court hearing could cause irreparable harm to workers.
Brick also expressed doubt that the estimated "$80 million to $110 million likely to be saved" over the next five weeks by furloughing state workers would make much of a dent in the state's $19 billion budget deficit.
Until a new budget is signed, Brick ruled, "it appears just as likely" that the state's financial woes will continue "whether the proposed furloughs are allowed to be implemented (Friday) or not."
The proposed temporary pay cut could cause employees irreparable harm, such as damaging credit scores or impairing their ability to feed and care for their families, the judge said.
"The court finds, on the limited record before it, that the balance of hardships tips in favor of petitioners," Brick ruled.
Schwarzenegger's appeal said the lower court overstepped its bounds by "questioning the wisdom, rather than the lawfulness" of gubernatorial policy decisions.
The Republican governor argued that "without the cash savings from furloughs, the state will be forced to cease funding to a wide variety of vital state programs."
Bruce Blanning, executive director of Professional Engineers in California Government, defended Brick's restraining order.
"It wasn't a frivolous ruling," he said. "The judge considered the evidence and the law – and he got it right."
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