Judge Halts Bid to Stop 5% Pay Cut : Budget: Controller is ordered to implement governor’s directive to reduce wages of state supervisorial workers.

SACRAMENTO —  A Superior Court judge Wednesday ordered state Controller Gray Davis to implement Gov. Pete Wilson’s directive to reduce the pay of 25,000 state supervisors by 5% to help ease the state’s budget problem.

Wilson applauded the move, saying the decision could save the jobs of up to 750 state workers who would have faced layoffs had he been prevented by Davis from making the cuts.

In another budget development, Wilson told reporters he believes it would be premature to call a special session of the Legislature to address a growing shortfall of tax revenues.

Some lawmakers are urging the session because tax collections during July, August and September were $300 million below projections. But Wilson said it is still too early in the fiscal year to try to readjust the budget.

“We won’t know enough probably until December,” he said.

As for the ruling, Presiding Judge James T. Ford said the Democratic controller had overstepped his authority in blocking the pay cut. The Wilson Administration ordered the pay cut for supervisors in August, and the governor and Davis have been at odds since over the legality of the move.

Davis also had planned to refund the 5% he had already taken from the pay of top managers during July, August and September.

Ford’s ruling also prohibits the controller from sending out refund checks. The pay cuts will be reflected in Oct. 31 paychecks.

Ford left open the possibility that his decision could be reversed, agreeing to hold another hearing next month.

Davis said in a statement released by his office, “My lawyers felt very strongly that deducting 5% from supervisorial and managerial employees’ salaries was an unlawful act. Ford ruled otherwise and we will respect his ruling.”

The ruling does not affect the pay of the approximately 122,000 rank-and-file Civil Service workers who are protected by collective bargaining rights.

Wilson, citing budget problems, wants to cut their pay 5% as well, but has been stymied by employee unions.

Reflecting the bitterness of the talks, Wilson said in a statement released by his office after Ford’s decision, “I only hope we will be able to attain greater savings down the road from recalcitrant state employee union leaders who have decided to pit themselves against taxpayers, those who use state programs and services and their own membership of less senior employees (if there are layoffs).”

Some supervisors were irate after the ruling.

Tom Considine, supervisor of a unit that treats severely disabled children at Camarillo State Hospital, said he was “personally disappointed” by the ruling. He listened to the verdict in person, sitting in Ford’s court with a group of union officials.

Considine, who earns about $45,000 annually after 17 years with the state, said, “I have an extremely demanding job, get no overtime, I’m on 24-hour call and I make less than a TV repairman. The word I am getting from the governor is that my work is not important. The governor has insulted some very talented and capable people in the state.”

The suit filed by the Administration contended that Davis had no justification for refusing to reduce the paychecks.

Jeffrey Fine, deputy chief counsel for the Department of Personnel Administration who argued the case before Ford, said the state would be “irreparably injured” if Davis were allowed to proceed.

In winning, Fine also lost, since as a supervising attorney he faces a 5% pay cut himself.

Attorneys for Davis and state employee unions argued that the governor’s order was illegal because the Administration had not conducted a salary survey, as required, of comparable jobs in the private sector and other government agencies. They also questioned the claim of irreparable damage, contending that the 21,000 vacancies that now exist in state government--the result of a hiring freeze--would provide more than the $351 million in savings Wilson was seeking.

But Ford said Wilson and other Administration officials “did what they were required to do under the statute” governing personnel actions and it was beyond Davis’ authority to question his motives.

“I am not going to substitute my judgment for the governor or whomever,” Ford said in his ruling.

Drew Mendelson, a spokesman for the California State Employees Assn., which represents roughly 70,000 Civil Service employees, said unions still believe that Wilson cannot justify the pay cuts. “They are hard-pressed to show why they need any pay cuts and layoffs in the face of the rising numbers of vacancies in state service,” he said.