Some states cut pay, others offered raises. How California state worker pay reductions stack up

Michigan lawmakers imposed weekly state worker furloughs. Florida’s employees got a raise.

Maryland paid front-line workers double at the start of the pandemic. Pennsylvania temporarily stopped paying some state employees altogether.

A look around the country shows the broad range of approaches government leaders have used to manage workforces during a public health crisis that has also hit state budgets.

California state workers fared better than some but worse than others.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature trimmed workers’ pay in exchange for days off using a furlough-like personal leave program. The cuts reduce most workers’ pay for two years under agreements Newsom’s administration reached with state unions.

California’s pay cuts appear unique in that they apply to all workers, from office technicians to state troopers. Many states that reduced pay exempted groups such as public health workers, prison staff and law enforcement. Colorado used salaries to set tiers for its furloughs.

While terms do vary among California state workers, each group is subject to an agreement that produces roughly 9.23% in short-term savings, primarily by cutting workers’ base pay by that amount and giving them two days of leave in exchange, which workers can bank and use at their discretion.

California budget analysts were projecting a $54.3 billion budget deficit when they imposed the pay reductions, which are saving about $2.4 billion per year, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The pay cut agreement included a trigger that would have automatically restored state workers’ pay if the state received enough federal aid by mid-October. That deadline passed, but state leaders could still choose to undo the cuts if California receives federal aid in a lame-duck session of Congress or under President-elect Joe Biden next year.

So far, California is doing better than expected this year. By the end of October, the state had collected about $11.3 billion more in revenue than expected for the first four months of fiscal year 2020-2021, running 22% above projections, according to Department of Finance figures.

States considered a flurry of state worker pay proposals in May and June, budget time for many of them. Some were approved, some fell by the wayside. Below are examples from a handful of states where news organizations wrote about the reductions.

▪ In Maryland, state employees who had to keep showing up for in-person work were paid double at the start of the pandemic, according to delmarvanow.com, part of the USA Today Network.

The state ended the extra pay in September for all workers except those in quarantine areas, who now make an extra $3.13 per hour.

The state’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, has forecast labor reductions, according to the Washington Post, but it doesn’t appear he has cut pay or laid off workers yet.

▪ Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered mandatory furloughs of one to four days over the course of the fiscal year for state employees making more than $50,000 per year. The number of days depends on salary. Polis’ Sept. 23 order exempts corrections, health care and transportation workers.

▪ Hawaii Democratic Gov. David Ige proposed furloughs in September that would equal a 10% pay cut for state employees starting in December, according to Hawaii News Now. The furloughs would remain in effect for four years under Ige’s proposal, according to the site.

▪ Florida lawmakers approved a 3% pay increase for the state’s 90,000 employees in July even as the state cut $1 billion in spending, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

▪ Raises of 3.5% took effect in Connecticut in July for the state’s 46,000 unionized employees, according to the Hartford Courant. A branch of SEIU ran commercials calling on the state to preserve workers raises. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont looked for ways to unilaterally cut state workers’ pay, but found he couldn’t do it, according to ctpost.com.

▪ Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee in June ordered about a month of one-day-a-week furloughs followed by once-a-month furloughs through November for about 40,000 state workers, according to The News Tribune. The Washington Federation of State Employees reached a deal to preserve a 3% raise despite the furloughs, according to The Seattle Times.

▪ Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in June ordered 3.8% pay cuts for about 16,000 state employees, including members of his administration, and said his administration would approach state unions representing another 35,000 state employees about more cost-cutting, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

▪ Michigan lawmakers instituted furloughs of one day per week for more than half the state’s 48,000 workers from May 17 through July 25. The state exempted law enforcement, veterans homes, the prison system and other front-line workers, according to the Detroit News.

▪ Minnesota state employees received scheduled 2.5% raises after legislative fights over whether to honor them, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

▪ Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in September delayed scheduled raises for 80,000 state workers for a third time, pushing the pay increase to January 2020, according to the Times Union.

▪ Tennessee’s state legislature halved state worker raises planned for the year, reducing them to 2% from 4%, according to the Jackson Sun.

▪ Other states that opted against state worker pay cuts in their budgets for this fiscal year include Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama.

This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Some states cut pay, others offered raises. How California state worker pay reductions stack up."