Pay cuts won’t affect many state workers

A large share of the state workforce will be exempt from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s order to pay government employees the federal minimum wage until a state budget is enacted, but others -- doctors, lawyers and engineers -- will get nothing, according to documents provided by the administration Tuesday.

In a letter to California Controller John Chiang, the administration’s personnel chief spelled out which workers the governor’s office deemed essential to public health and safety. Those employees would receive full pay, and not have their wages set at $6.55 per hour, the letter says. About 48,000 of the state’s 235,000 workers would be exempt.

Thousands of lawyers, doctors, and engineers, who do not have the same federal wage protections as other workers, would receive no pay.

“There’s no federal labor provisions that requires they receive any minimum payment,” said Lynelle Jolley, a Department of Personnel Administration spokeswoman.

A union representing lawyers and other professionals filed a complaint last week with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, which hears labor disputes.

The governor has ordered that the wages of all other state workers be temporarily decreased. Rank-and-file employees, the bulk of the state workforce, would get the federal minimum wage. Managers and other administrators would be paid $11.38 per hour, an amount the administration says is dictated by federal law.

All lost wages would be repaid after a budget is signed. Labor unions are seeking to block the pay cuts in court.

Those who would continue receiving full pay include most state police, firefighters, highway workers and military officers. Employees working in the parks, water resources department, conservation corps and Office of Spill Protection and Response are largely exempt, as are most game wardens and other employees at the Department of Fish and Game. Most mental health workers, full-time state employees who work with the developmentally disabled and workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs will also receive full pay.

Dave A. Gilb, director of the Department of Personnel Administration, wrote to the controller that these employees are exempt “due to the critical nature of the work performed.”

The controller, who manages the state payroll, has said that he will refuse to comply with the governor’s order, arguing Schwarzenegger lacks the authority to unilaterally reduce employee pay. Administration officials said Tuesday that they expect to file a lawsuit to force Chiang to enact the cuts.

The governor laid off more than 10,000 part-time and seasonal workers last week.

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evan.halper@latimes.com

michael.rothfeld@latimes.com