A federal judge Wednesday put on hold a state plan to furlough about 100,000 employees for a single day next week, as tensions between Gov. David A. Paterson and lawmakers over a budget stalemate escalated.
To avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers Monday voted to force about half of the state work force to take a day of unpaid leave between May 17 and 21. That plan has been frozen, pending the outcome of a hearing in federal court May 26. Judge Lawrence E. Kahn’s decision came in response to a temporary restraining order filed in U.S. District Court in Albany by two unions representing the employees, the Public Employees Federation and the Civil Service Employees Association.
The unions say the furlough is unconstitutional, while the Paterson administration argues that it’s a drastic but necessary measure in a fiscal emergency.
