Yesterday, a Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling that State Compensation Insurance Fund employees are exempt from Governor Schwarzenegger's furloughs. The lawsuit affects over 6,000 clerical and professional SEIU Local 1000 workers who work for the fund, which provides worker's compensation insurance to employers. (Click here to read the tentative ruling)

This ruling comes after Local 1000 filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court accusing the governor of violating the state's Emergency Services Act by illegally using that law as a basis for implementing furloughs. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein also asked the governor to stop furloughing 1,415 employees who review Social Security disability applications because they are paid through federal money - not from the General Fund.

That same day, the state's Department of Finance admitted at a state Senate hearing that furloughs at the Franchise Tax Board and Board of Equalization will cost the state $350 million in uncollected taxes. At the hearing, FTB tax technician Renee Lee testified that she is now losing her Sacramento home of 18 years because of the 14 percent pay cut from furloughs--after 30 years of civil service. In a comment that widely picked up by media outlets, Lee said at the hearing, "I was living the American dream. I'm living a nightmare now."

If the decision becomes final and is upheld, the workers will be exempt from the Governor's furloughs and will receive back pay with interest for furlough days they have already had. Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker called the ruling "another crack in the governor's illegal furlough scheme." The union has filed a total of five lawsuits challenging the Governor's state employee furloughs three times a month. Read more at SF Gate.