SACRAMENTO — A group of highly paid state employees is upset about a new Schwarzenegger administration edict demanding that they show up for work from 9 to 5 at their offices.
The employees in question, all of whom earn $100,000 a year or more, are political appointees on four obscure but influential state boards that govern workplace issues for everyone else in the state.
Over the last several months, a few of the employees were heavily involved in political campaigns. Others worked from their homes in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego rather than report to headquarters offices, most of which are in Sacramento.
"We want a full day's work for a full day's pay," said Rick Rice, assistant secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which issued the mandate.
The Republican administration believes many of the appointees are failing to do their jobs effectively. One board has a two-year backlog of work; another has 8,000 cases awaiting review. The boards handle thousands of appeals from people seeking workers' compensation and unemployment insurance payments, workplace safety complaints and labor issues involving farmworkers.
Democratic appointees, however, feel besieged and believe Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is attempting to oust them and make his own appointments. Some say they are being punished for something that board members from both parties have done for decades -- working from home and taking part-time jobs after hours.
The issue now is moving into the courts. Daniel Zingale, a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, was sued Wednesday by a Central Valley farmer who complained about political work that Zingale did to help defeat a November ballot measure. Zingale, who is paid $114,191 a year by the state, said he completes all of his board work on time and has a legal opinion stating that his $50,000 part-time political job did not pose a conflict.
Steve Maviglio, an appointee of former Gov. Gray Davis, sent out scores of campaign-related e-mails criticizing Schwarzenegger and Republican candidates during working hours on the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where he serves full time. Maviglio's post also pays $114,191 a year, and he has worked from home as well as at the agency's Sacramento office.
Maviglio, a former press secretary for Davis, drew complaints from California Republicans who said he seemed to be working harder trashing Schwarzenegger than reviewing insurance appeals.
