Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Chief justice defends decision not to impose worker furloughs

CARSON CITY – Chief Justice Michael Douglas has defended the decision of the Nevada Supreme Court not to require furloughs of its employees while the rest of state workers took the unpaid leave in a budget cutback.

Douglas told a legislative budget subcommittee that the court reduced its budget by $2.7 million, which was the equivalent to imposing the furlough.

The Legislature passed a bill to require state employees to take a one-day-a-month furlough without pay in an effort to help the state through its financial distress.

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, told Douglas “there is an issue of equity here.” He said the other two branches of government required their employee to take the one day off a month without pay.

Conklin said it was difficult to tell employees that one group has to follow the law while the Supreme Court chooses another course.

Douglas said he understood the furloughs were optional, not mandatory, and the court decided to cut its budget to meet the required savings.

If the court would have required furloughs in addition to the money returned to the state treasury, it would have been a 10 percent cut, not the 5 percent imposed on the rest of state government, Douglas said.

The chief justice said court officials were told by the legislative Interim Finance Committee this was acceptable.

Conklin said the decision by the court gave it a "leg up in recruitment," but Douglas replied the court has lost employees to other branches of government that pay better.

The budget for the court is $10.7 million next year and $10.9 million for the 2013 fiscal year for the court’s 173 employees.

The court issued about 70 full-fledged opinions last year compared to 90 the preceding year, Douglas said, but added that the court issued more minor decisions.

“We want to do it right, not do it fast,” he told reporters after the budget hearing.

The number of cases filed has increased but there is no new staff, he told the committee.

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