Furloughs May Continue In California

From the Contra Costa Times:

For more than a year, state workers who go through disability applications were ordered by [California] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take two or three unpaid days off each month.

That's a practice that disability advocates say has hurt disabled workers and state employees but hasn't helped the state.

But it's a practice that could continue, though to a lesser degree, after Schwarzenegger leaves office. ...

[T]he Social Security Administration has sent a letter to Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, asking him to ensure that SSDI processors are "exempt from any sort of furloughs or pay freezes or overtime restrictions."

It's not clear, though, if anything will change under Brown's leadership. Brown spokesman Evan Westrup pointed out that the once-per-month furloughs are now part of a new contract between the state and the union representing SSDI processors and that undoing those furloughs could require renegotiating that contract.