Jerry Brown drops Schwarzenegger minimum-wage lawsuit

[Newsjock]

Source: Sacramento Bee

Gov. Jerry Brown has dropped a lawsuit filed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that asserted his right to impose a minimum wage order on state workers during a budget stalemate.

Brown's Department of Personnel Administration filed the stipulation for the suit's dismissal on Monday in Sacramento Superior Court. Schwarzenegger sued Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, in August 2008 when Chiang resisted the former Republican governor's efforts to chop state worker pay to the federal minimum of $6.55 an hour.

Chiang argued that the state had enough cash to pay workers and argued that a 2003 state Supreme Court decision did not require pay cuts when there is no state budget. The controller also argued that the state's outdated payroll system -- designed in 1951 -- couldn't comply with the order to cut wages and avoid violating various labor laws.

"I am pleased and thankful that Governor Brown saw this litigation as a frivolous waste of hard-earned tax dollars that should be dedicated to fixing our schools, protecting our communities and rebuilding our infrastructure," Chiang said in a statement.

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/02/brown-drops-schwarzenegger-minimum-wage-lawsuit.html