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The action comes
after a St. Clair County Court last week granted Munger's
request to pay all state employees in order to comply with the
federal Fair Labor Standards Act and avoid potential fines
totaling three times the amount of missed payrolls.
"Paying all state employees is the right, legal, and fiscally
responsible thing to do and I appreciate the Court's
authorization to move forward," Munger said. "We are simply
compensating workers for services they are already providing the
state and ensuring that we are in compliance with federal law.
To do otherwise would not only cause hardship to tens of
thousands of employees and their families, but also make the
state vulnerable to staggering penalties that we cannot afford."
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires the state pay "covered"
employees at minimum wage or face fines from the federal
government. However, Illinois' antiquated payroll systems make
it impossible to swiftly determine which of the state's 65,000
employees fall under the designation. Even when the respective
employees are identified, the antiquated systems require
Comptroller's Office personnel to manually enter tens of
thousands of reductions in pay rate and corresponding changes in
deductions and benefits.
Given those realities, Munger and the Governor's Office of
Central Management Services last week asked the Court to allow
the state to run full payroll to ensure compliance with the
federal law. A Cook County Court initially directed the state to
pay only minimum wage for "covered" employees but that decision
was later stayed by an Appellate Court. On Thursday, a St. Clair
County Court granted Munger's request to run full payroll,
giving her the Court Order she needed to legally move forward.
"While the legal process will
continue to play out, I am confident that the Court will
ultimately see that paying all state employees is the best and
only way to protect the state from significant federal fines,"
Munger said. "At the same time, it provides welcome relief to
workers across the state, including those on the front line in
serving our communities and most vulnerable residents."
[Office of the Illinois
Comptroller Leslie Munger]
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