$23 Million Hotelier Jonathan Lippman Lays Off 500 Workers

Union memo warns court employees of layoffs
The Times Union by Rick Karlin  -  April 15, 2011

Judiciary grapples with $170 million cut

ALBANY, NY -- Up to 500 court employees statewide could be laid off in coming months, according to a memo to unionized court workers obtained by the Times Union. David Bookstaver, spokesman for the state court system, said the layoffs are still in the planning stages, and are the result of budget cuts. State agencies as well as the court system received 10 percent cuts this year in order to help close a $10 billion budget gap. The judiciary initially proposed a basically flat budget, but agreed to cut $100 million after a public scolding from Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his budget proposal Feb. 1. The final budget deal added another $70 million to that sum for a total cut of $170 million. "We expect to have a firm understanding of the layoffs in the coming weeks," Bookstaver said. Last week, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman delivered a video address to employees of the state judiciary warning them of layoffs and cutbacks that "will do great harm across the board" to the court system's mission.

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Unions Told to Expect 400 to 500 Layoffs
The New York Law Journal by Joel Stashenko  -  April 18, 2011

ALBANY, NY - The court system has notified employee unions that it expects to lay off 400 to 500 workers by June 1 due to recent state budget cuts. Administrators laid out their intentions during a meeting with representatives of all 11 court worker unions in New York City on April 11, the Civil Services Employees Association reported in a "layoff update" on its website. CSEA is the largest such union, representing about 6,000 of 15,200 non-judicial employees. The layoffs will represent the first substantial reduction in force for the courts in 20 years. According to a "tentative" timetable cited by the union in its April 13 posting, the first pink slips would go out as early as Wednesday to 50 to 70 workers in the Office for Court Administration. The terminations would be effective May 4. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has said that laying off administrative workers first would serve as a symbolic gesture to emphasize the priority OCA accords to maintaining court operations. Notices would be distributed to other affected workers on May 18, effective June 1, CSEA said. The layoffs have been made necessary by $170 million in cuts to the Judiciary's $2.7 billion proposed budget for 2011-12, which began on April 1. Judge Lippman offered to make $100 million in cuts, but the Legislature and the governor imposed an additional $70 million. Judge Lippman said the additional cuts would force "hundreds" of layoffs. CSEA stressed in its update that the courts had "not yet determined what positions will be abolished, much less which employees will be affected" by the cuts. OCA officials are now evaluating the recommendations of administrators around the state submitted last week for specific cuts. Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau on Friday declined to discuss administrators' layoff plans. In addition to the impact of lost employees, the Judiciary would be affected by transfers among courts as senior workers exercise their contractual right to "bump" their juniors. The union said there was a possibility that "thousands" of workers could be "displaced" by the bumping process. While declining to discuss the issue in detail, court officials have suggested there would not be nearly that many transfers.

CSEA local presidents met in Albany on Wednesday to discuss the impending layoffs

The union noted in its posting that some members have asked the CSEA to negotiate furloughs or a lag in payroll to preserve jobs. But the union said the OCA has determined that it cannot consider those moves unless all 11 unions agree, and nine have already vetoed the idea. "Therefore, we are unable even to entertain the idea of either options," CSEA adds. "It is important to note that CSEA is not implementing layoffs," the union post says. "It is being done by the Unified Court System and it is up to that system to answer employee questions and explain the process to affected employees."  The union promised that its representatives would be available to "double check" the information workers receive from the court system.  Joel Stashenko can be contacted at jstashenko@alm.com.

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