Unpaid Days

About 11,000 state employees wrapped up a short work week Wednesday on the eve of four unpaid days off as part of a compromise to help make up a budget deficit. All told, more than half of the state's 65,000 employees, about 36,400, will have to take time off without pay before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Those unpaid days off will save the state $14 million, officials say. The furlough days are part of a package that Gov.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department will furlough most of its 800,000 civilian employees for 11 days, a decision that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called “difficult” but necessary to meet mandatory federal spending cuts this year without harming national security. “We tried everything we could not to get to this day this way,” Hagel told an auditorium full of Pentagon civilians after he announced the decision. “Finally we got to a point where I could not responsibly go any deeper into cutting or jeopardizing our core missions.” Before $43 billion in mandatory defense cuts went into effect March 1, Pentagon officials warned that civilian employees could be required to take 22 days of unpaid leave.

They've upped gas and water bills, increased parking meter fees, frozen hiring. Now Long Beach officials are asking workers to take a day off without pay during the coming budget year. The "voluntary furlough" program approved by the City Council this week is a relatively meager part of the $40 million in belt-tightening that was required to balance the city's $364.7-million general fund budget. The measure is expected to raise $150,000, city budget officials say.

SACRAMENTO - The decision to furlough state employees during the financial crises of recent years may have saved money in the short term but will leave a big bill down the road, the Legislature's budget advisors said Thursday. The state will owe $1 billion extra to many workers when they retire or quit, for vacation time that went unused while they were being forced to take unpaid days off. The furloughs were intended to save $5 billion from February 2009 to July 2013, effectively cutting workers' pay 5% to 14%. The $1 billion for unused vacation - some in excess of state accrual limits - will eat into those savings, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

SACRAMENTO - The decision to furlough state employees during the financial crises of recent years may have saved money in the short term but will leave a big bill down the road, the Legislature's budget advisors said Thursday. The state will owe $1 billion extra to many workers when they retire or quit, for vacation time that went unused while they were being forced to take unpaid days off. The furloughs were intended to save $5 billion from February 2009 to July 2013, effectively cutting workers' pay 5% to 14%. The $1 billion for unused vacation - some in excess of state accrual limits - will eat into those savings, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

Roughly 150,000 California state employees face furloughs again beginning Friday after a state Supreme Court ruling Wednesday. Most of the state's bureaucracy, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Fish and Game and the Department of Public Health, will be closed for business Friday of this week and next week. The California Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that temporarily blocked mandatory unpaid days off for state workers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered workers to take three such days per month to conserve cash amid the state's budget impasse.

State worker furloughs are officially off. For now. A state appeals court Thursday agreed with a lower court that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot impose the mandatory unpaid days off on roughly 150,000 state employees. The Schwarzenegger administration said it plans to appeal immediately to the California Supreme Court. Late last month, the governor ordered three furlough days each month to conserve cash until California has a budget in place. On Thursday, the gridlock in Sacramento reached a new height — or low — as the standoff among state lawmakers became the fifth-longest in modern California history.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge Thursday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to halt thrice-monthly furloughs for tens of thousands of state workers, saying the administration overstepped its authority in approving the unpaid days off. A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor would appeal the decision of Judge Frank Roesch in favor of three state employee unions, including the Service Employees International Union Local 1000. The unions had filed suit after the governor began the furloughs in February, in response to a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday ordered his managers to impose 42 furlough days on city employees in four union groups after those workers rejected his proposal for cutting the budget shortfall. Employee groups representing more than 6,300 full-time workers voted against the labor agreement that the mayor negotiated last month with leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. Balloting finished Tuesday. The deal with the coalition was supposed to save $69 million in the coming fiscal year.

Los Angeles teachers will take four unpaid days off next year to help offset the city schools' estimated $408-million budget deficit, according to a tentative agreement reached Friday. The deal between the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Unified School District would save the district about $42 million if ratified by union membership and would be the third consecutive year that teachers have agreed to furlough days, which essentially are a pay cut. Citing the projected shortfall, the school board voted earlier this year to issue nearly 7,000 preliminary layoff notices to employees.

At a time when taxpayers are being asked to dig deeper to resolve Los Angeles' chronic budget crisis, city employees are receiving raises that will cost tens of millions of dollars within a few years, according to records obtained by The Times. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an assortment of City Council members and Police Chief Charlie Beck are urging voters to approve a sales tax hike on the March 5 ballot that would boost the city rate to 9.5% , one of the highest in the state. At the same time, thousands of police officers, firefighters and civilian employees are in the midst of receiving a two-year series of raises that were backed by the mayor and council.

Less than six months into its fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles faces a $72-million budget shortfall, raising the prospect of new cuts in services in coming weeks, according to a report released Friday. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, budget advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council, issued an interim financial status report calling for nearly two dozen city agencies to absorb a combined $21 million in reductions. Santana warned that the shortfall could grow once city officials calculate the cost of cleanup in the wake of this week's ferocious windstorms and the two-month encampment outside City Hall by Occupy L.A. "These are unforeseen problems that we have to pay for one way or the other," Santana said in an interview.

Los Angeles teachers will take four unpaid days off next year to help offset the city schools' estimated $408-million budget deficit, according to a tentative agreement reached Friday. The deal between the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Unified School District would save the district about $42 million if ratified by union membership and would be the third consecutive year that teachers have agreed to furlough days, which essentially are a pay cut. Citing the projected shortfall, the school board voted earlier this year to issue nearly 7,000 preliminary layoff notices to employees.

While parents held rallies up and down California on Tuesday to protest school budget cuts, the state's largest school district appealed to its teachers union to agree to take unpaid time off to help the district balance its books and save jobs. "We're trying to hold the house together," said Los Angeles Board of Education member Richard Vladovic. He and other district officials have noted that five other unions have agreed to six furlough days to help balance a nearly $408-million projected budget shortfall.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday ordered his managers to impose 42 furlough days on city employees in four union groups after those workers rejected his proposal for cutting the budget shortfall. Employee groups representing more than 6,300 full-time workers voted against the labor agreement that the mayor negotiated last month with leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. Balloting finished Tuesday. The deal with the coalition was supposed to save $69 million in the coming fiscal year.

The California Supreme Court appeared inclined Wednesday to uphold the legality of forced furloughs for more than 200,000 state employees, a measure that saved the state more than $1 billion but that infuriated labor unions and inundated the courts with lawsuits. Members of the state high court, meeting for oral argument in San Francisco, indicated through their questions that the furloughs that began in February 2009 were likely to be ruled legal even though the governor may have lacked unbridled authority to order them.

In what Los Angeles school district officials hope is the first of several concessions by labor unions, bus drivers have agreed to take six unpaid days off this fiscal year, officials said Tuesday. The deal is the first time in recent history that a school district union has agreed to furloughs. Last year, the district approved -- but never required -- four unpaid days off for most employees in an attempt to offset a budget shortfall. The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a nearly $200-million budget shortfall this fiscal year.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department will furlough most of its 800,000 civilian employees for 11 days, a decision that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called “difficult” but necessary to meet mandatory federal spending cuts this year without harming national security. “We tried everything we could not to get to this day this way,” Hagel told an auditorium full of Pentagon civilians after he announced the decision. “Finally we got to a point where I could not responsibly go any deeper into cutting or jeopardizing our core missions.” Before $43 billion in mandatory defense cuts went into effect March 1, Pentagon officials warned that civilian employees could be required to take 22 days of unpaid leave.

Six Los Angeles city employee unions have blocked Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa from seeking to impose higher healthcare costs on its members, even as a seventh labor organization agreed to a wide range of concessions. The Coalition of L.A. City Unions, which represents roughly 22,000 members, persuaded the city's employee relations board to block budget negotiators from declaring an impasse in the current round of contract talks. Negotiators had sought that declaration so they could unilaterally increase the cost of doctors' visits, hospital stays and prescription drugs for civilian city workers.

Roughly 150,000 California state employees face furloughs again beginning Friday after a state Supreme Court ruling Wednesday. Most of the state's bureaucracy, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Fish and Game and the Department of Public Health, will be closed for business Friday of this week and next week. The California Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that temporarily blocked mandatory unpaid days off for state workers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered workers to take three such days per month to conserve cash amid the state's budget impasse.