Illinois Supreme Court hears state employee back pay case

For nearly four years AFSCME has been battling in court—and winning each round—to secure the back pay owed to thousands of state employees. Now the case has made its way up to the Illinois Supreme Court which heard oral arguments on the dispute on Wednesday, September 23.

The conflict stems from a decision by then governor Pat Quinn in 2011 to withhold a negotiated pay raise. AFSCME swiftly won a ruling by an independent arbitrator that the wages were owed and must be paid. But the state appealed the arbitrator’s ruling in Circuit Court.

The Circuit Court denied the appeal and affirmed the arbitrator’s decision that the wages must be paid.  At that point, Governor Quinn agreed to accept the Circuit Court ruling and not to pursue any further appeals. However, Attorney General Lisa Madigan disagreed with the governor and appealed the Circuit Court ruling to the First District Appellate Court.

In September 2014 the Appellate Court issued a unanimous decision flatly rejecting the Attorney General’s argument that funding for the wages must be appropriated and affirming AFSCME’s argument that the arbitrator’s order to pay the wages should be upheld.

"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.

Despite the clarity of the Appellate Court’s ruling, the Attorney General subsequently appealed that ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, securing a stay of the lower court’s ruling that required immediate payment of the wages owed.

Briefs from both parties have been filed with the Supreme Court and oral arguments before the court were on Wednesday, September 23.

As this case has slowly made its way through the legal system, AFSCME has been able to secure payment of all or partial wages owed for thousands of employees through administrative and legislative pressure.  But there are still several thousand employees who are each owed thousands of dollars.  The Supreme Court’s ruling will be critical for them.

“State workers have waited far too long for what is owed to them,” Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said.  “AFSCME has never given up this fight.  We’ve won every legal round so far and we are optimistic that the Supreme Court will affirm the sound reasoning of the lower courts.

The late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka had clearly stated that if there was a court order that the wages must be paid, she would immediately issue the checks—without any additional legislative authorization.

“If the Supreme Court ruling upholds the arbitrator’s decision, we would hope that the current Comptroller, Leslie Munger, will follow through on the commitment that her predecessor made,” Lynch said.