AFSCME wins appellate court decision on state employee back pay

In a decision issued Sept. 30, a panel of Illinois appellate court judges ruled that frontline state employees are owed the wages spelled out in their union contract with state government, and that the legislature's failure to appropriate sufficient funds cannot erase the state’s obligation to pay.

The appellate court found in favor of AFSCME Council 31. An independent arbitrator had previously decided that the state's failure to pay the wages was a violation of the union contract, and a circuit court judge agreed in part, ruling that the wages were owed. Here the judges rejected an appeal by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who sought to vacate the arbitrator's award, and accepted AFSCME’s cross appeal that the monies must be paid in full. The appellate court now remands the case to circuit court with instructions to confirm the arbitrator's award.

The case concerns wages earned from July 2011 to July 2013 but still not fully paid to thousands of employees in the state departments of Corrections, Human Services, Juvenile Justice, Natural Resources and Public Health.

"Today's decision is a win for working men and women who serve all the people of Illinois, caring for the disabled, keeping prisons safe, maintaining our state parks and much more," AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said. "Moreover it's a victory for a principle of simple fairness for all workers: A contract is a contract, it means what it says, and no employer—not state government or anyone else—can unilaterally withhold wages owed."

More than a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn had requested that Attorney General Madigan drop the appeal. She refused, resulting in further litigation and leading to today’s decision.

"We hold that the arbitrator's award comports with the overriding public policy of permitting the State to negotiate enforceable multiyear collective bargaining agreements with unions of state employees, and the award furthers the express constitutional policy forbidding the General Assembly from passing any acts, including insufficient appropriations bills, that impair the obligation of contracts," the appellate judges wrote.

AFSCME Council 31 and the Quinn Administration worked together to pass a supplemental appropriation that the governor signed in May, paying about 45% of the remaining amount owed to workers.

"Our union will continue to work to ensure that the state fulfills its obligation, honors the union contract and pays every employee what each is owed as quickly as possible," Lynch said.

For for previous coverage of the back-pay case, click here.