California Judges will get Checks for Raises they Missed During the Recession

A decision was finally made in the case of Mallano vs. Chiang, which was first filed in 2014 and deals with how Governor Jerry Brown’s administration calculated judicial raises after the recession. According to the case, the state of California owes about $40 million in back wages to judges. All six of California Supreme Court’s justices had recused themselves from the case earlier this month because they had a financial stake in the outcome. The court appointed seven judges who took office after 2017, and those judges declined to hear the state’s appeal of a June ruling to award back pay to about 3,000 current and former judges. William Casey, retired appeals court Justice Robert Mallano’s attorney, stated the following regarding the decision,

We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to the judges, justices and judicial retirement beneficiaries receiving the money to which they are entitled

Mallano alleged that the state failed to give mandatory raises to judges between 2008 and 2013. California law dictates that judges receive raises based on average wage increases that go to other state employees. The first ruling in this case was in favor of the judges back in 2016 and the presiding judge ordered that the judges would be entitled to receive interest on their back wages at a rate of 10 percent each year. In 2017, the appeals court also ruled in favor of the judges and wrote that each judge would gain about $14,600 and $18,700 and it described the wages as “wrongfully withheld.” It is yet to be determined when the judges will get their back wages.

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