California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to save money in the face of the state's budget crisis has state employees up in arms. Representatives of the 10,000 state workers who would be laid off under Schwarzenegger's plan charge that the order violates labor law by making workers wait for their final checks, rather than issuing the checks on the last day of employment. SEIU officials have sued the state, saying laid off employees, should still receive wages up until the final checks are issued. The suit follows a previous one charging the governor's unilateral reduction of state employees' pay to the federal minimum wage as unlawful.
See "State workers union sues governor, again, over layoffs", Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle, August 6, 2008