As a result of the recently adopted state budget, which included over $54 billion in reductions primarily caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Mateo County Superior Court announced an initial round of layoffs and mandatory furloughs as a partial solution to estimated budget reductions of $4.5 million, officials announced Wednesday.
Jury trials are set to resume Aug. 17 after a closure in late July because coronavirus case counts went up and there was a person present in a courtroom who tested positive.
Professional, management and unrepresented employees will be asked to take mandatory furloughs of 5%, or roughly one day per month. The largest group of employees, represented by SEIU Local 521, did not accept the court’s 5% mandatory furlough and 20 positions were terminated as of Aug. 28, according to officials.
To further ensure that it ends the current fiscal year with a balanced budget, the court also imposed a hiring freeze, reduced its non-personnel budget by more than $800,000, or 10%, and is projecting to spend down all of its modest reserves.
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“The pandemic emergency left us with little time to plan and absorb the enormous revenue losses occurring statewide. We had no choice but to cut our budget, impose furloughs and issue these layoff notices,” Superior Court Executive Officer Neal Taniguchi said in a press release. “It’s possible that the State may receive bailout funding from the federal government in the fall, but the State imposed our budget reductions effective July 1, which left us with no choice but to act as quickly as possible.”
The pandemic and the social distancing requirements needed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 had already caused the court to substantially limit jury trials, curtail court hearings and limit its operations to reduce the number of people in its court facilities. The budget reduction and resulting layoffs force the court to cut public hours by 50%. Additionally, court office services will be by appointment only; online chat and telephone services will be limited to the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The court will also suspend Family Court Service appointments at its South San Francisco Courthouse, as well as close the Clerk’s Office and the Self-Help Center.
Taniguchi further warned that the next year, Fiscal Year 2021-22, could be worse.
“If the economy does not improve markedly, we could be facing additional layoffs and continued furloughs, resulting in further court closures, and curtailment of services,” he said.
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