L.A. Court institutes Friday furloughs for employees.The state budget battle may be over, but tensions between local court administrators and staff have not subsided. Anticipating a budget shortfall Shortfall The amount by which the capital required to fulfill a financial obligation exceeds available capital. Notes: Shortfall risk is often combated with an efficient hedging strategy created by a fund, group, institution, or individual. , the court initiated a "flexible Friday" furlough fur·lough n. 1. a. A leave of absence or vacation, especially one granted to a member of the armed forces. b. A usually temporary layoff from work. c. plan for all employees in which employees allocate about one Friday per month over the next year to take off work without pay, said Allan Parachini, spokesman for the L.A. Superior Court. Employees could choose from a menu of four predetermined pre·de·ter·mine v. pre·de·ter·mined, pre·de·ter·min·ing, pre·de·ter·mines v.tr. 1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: furlough schedules. So far, he said, several hundred employees have signed up for the plan, which is estimated to save local courts $4 million during the next year. L.A. Superior Court faces a $30 million to $54 million cut on its $600 million annual budget for fiscal 2004. "It's a way to reduce personnel costs as much as we could, but inflict as little pain on people as possible," Parachini said. Last fall, L.A. Superior Court faced a $21 million budget reduction for fiscal 2003 that forced it to lay off more than 300 staff and 26 judicial officers, close 29 courtrooms and three lock-ups and trim security costs by $10 million. The "flexible Fridays" plan would negate ne·gate tr.v. ne·gat·ed, ne·gat·ing, ne·gates 1. To make ineffective or invalid; nullify. 2. To rule out; deny. See Synonyms at deny. 3. a 3 percent raise given to several court employees for this year, he said. Union representatives who lobbied for the raises a few months ago are lukewarm luke·warm adj. 1. Mildly warm; tepid. 2. Lacking conviction or enthusiasm; indifferent: gave only lukewarm support to the incumbent candidate. about the plan. Sandra Stewart, director of the special districts division of the Services Employees International Union (SEIU SEIU Service Employees International Union SEIU Special Education Intake Unit SEIU Secondary Education Interdisciplinary Unit SEIU Software Engineering Institute Union ) Local 660, which represents court employees involved in legal processing, said the furloughs require employees to be locked in for a year with reduced pay. She said "flexible Friday" is better geared for higher-paid employees who can afford to take less pay. Parachini said nearly 300 district administrators and senior management were participating. Since last fall's layoffs, the courts have lost several employees due to attrition Attrition The reduction in staff and employees in a company through normal means, such as retirement and resignation. This is natural in any business and industry. Notes: , Parachini said. As a result, L.A. Superior Court is also filling new positions for clerks, bailiffs and some other courtroom staff, he said. "We have 583 courtrooms. To keep them up requires judicial assistance. If we drop below (a certain number), we have to close courtrooms because there is no clerk available," Parachini said. |
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