Pennsylvania withholds July pay


State freezes workers' pay for July as budget impasse continues. Two other states have yet to approve budgets, while California closes in on deal to close $26 billion deficit.


By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: July 17, 2009: 11:38 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Pennsylvania state workers' paychecks are a little light these days.

Struggling to resolve a 17-day-old budget impasse, Pennsylvania is withholding pay for 69,000 state employees for time worked after July 1. Workers Friday received only 70% of their salary, covering days worked in June. Starting two weeks from now, they'll get nothing on payday until a state budget is approved.






http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news...e_budget_woes/ (http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/State_budget_woes/)

Several interesting aspects to this...

The employees have worked their hours and will receive no pay. This is against the law.

If a state employee's credit is damaged, or if the employee has property repossessed or goes into default on a mortgage as a result of nonpayment by the state of wages due - what happens then. Presumably the state will assert its "sovereign immunity" and deny any liability for the damage it has caused its own employees.

What will the state do if it is served with a garnishment notice attaching an employee's wages if there are no wages being paid? Will the employee be subject to discipline because of the garnishment?

What a real crock of shit. Thanks, jews.:mad:

Another interesting rub to this, notmenomore, is a story about California state employees that are retired with a six figure annual pension. Cities in Cali are facing bankruptcy as they can no longer service such pensions.

At his office in Burbank, Calif., Richman navigates to his group's Web site, where he's posted a list of retired public employees in California who receive six-figure pensions. Number one is Bruce Malkenhorst, a retired city manager near Los Angeles who collects a half-million dollars a year. Next on the list is Joaquin Fuster, who gets $296,000. And James Stahl, who was with the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, receives $265,000.

There are more than 5,000 Californians on this list. These six-figure pensions make up only one percent of retired public workers, but many others still have a sweet deal. Take cops and firefighters, for example: If they retire, say, after 30 years of service, they make 90 percent of their top salary each year — guaranteed — until they die.

Still, most retirees are more like 89-year-old Max Turchen, who eats lunch at his neighborhood deli in Los Angeles. Turchen worked for the state as a welfare agent for 28 years. His pension is around $36,000 a year. Not much, but more than the state can afford. Ten years ago, California spent $160 million on its retirees. This fiscal year it expects to spend $3.4 billion. Hardly anybody thinks this is sustainable, including Turchen.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/07/16/california-pensions-forcing-cities-bankruptcy/

Thousands of jobless Pennsylvanians are joining the growing ranks of people around the country who are exhausting unemployment benefitshttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2009/07/pennsylvania-jobless-benefits-exhausted.html#), as some experts worry about another blow to a stumbling economy.

Gov. Ed Rendell said 17,800 Pennsylvanians exhausted their jobless benefits in the week that ended Saturday, the first big wave of Pennsylvanians to do so. He urged legislators to pass a bill to extend the benefits.
...
Many unemployed Pennsylvanians currently are eligible for up to 72 weeks of benefits, including 13 from the stimulus law. The state unemployment rate just reached the three-month average of 8 percent, qualifying residents for another seven weeks once legislation pending in the state Senatehttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2.gif (http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2009/07/pennsylvania-jobless-benefits-exhausted.html#) is approved.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Big-wave-of-Pa-jobless-apf-2394927266.html?x=0&.v=3

No pay check :nigsign: