Hundreds of Sacramento State students were laid off due to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order that cut more than 10,000 of the state’s temporary and part-time employees.

The order, issued July 31, was Schwarzenegger’s response to the stalled California state budget. Without a state budget in place, funding for the employee salaries is not available, according to the Governor’s office.

Sac State’s University Enterprises Inc., works with college students who are looking to get jobs in state agencies. Students involved normally hold student-assistant positions where they often help with research and internships.

“We usually have 1,850 to 1,900 (student employees),”said David Levy, marketing director for University Enterprise Inc., a hiring service provided for students in the area. “Now we have 550 less time sheets.”

Levy explained the students who no longer are working for the state didn’t necessarily lose their jobs completely; they were just told not to work because there was no money to pay them.

Other state programs and services lacking funding include highway improvement projects, Cal Grants to students in graduate programs, and the hiring and promotions of state staff, according to a press release sent out by the state in July.

In response to the executive order, the State Employees International Union Local 1000 has filed four lawsuits against the governor.

Jim Zamora, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, said the union has three legal actions to deal with, but will pair with State Controller John Chiang in his lawsuit against Schwarzenegger.

“If we let the 95,000 states workers in on this lawsuit we can show a real impact,” Zamora said.

Levy and University Enterprise Inc. have a different approach. They are keeping their fingers crossed.

“Our hope is that these folks can come back to work,” Levy said. “We are hoping all the positions will get re-instated.”

Students who have lost jobs are seeking ways to finish paying bills and have money for tuition and books.

But with a slipping economy and thousands of other people who were laid off at the same time, many jobs are already filled and most state agencies are operating under hiring freezes.

Forced to find money for school, students look to unemployment benefits.

“I’m sure people are coming in looking for help,” Levy said. “But filing for unemployment insurance is one way they are muddling through this.”

For now, the California state office seeing the most dramatic changes due to staff layoffs is the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The DMV, in the early 1990s, hired over 1,000 intermittent employees to help with the long lines and complications due to lack of staff.

These employees, some students, worked on a full or part-time basis with no guarantee of a permanent position.

They were some of the first to receive notices about the cuts and many were not given their last check; the first of three violations made by the state.

Zamora said another violation the union is headed to court over is the firing process.

“They had a right, but the process to decide who to lay-off was not legal,” Zamora said. “It was not fair and it’s not legal.”

He explained many students and other part-time employees the union represents were hired under specific terms such as only for the summer.

The state was in violation of its own legal binds because contracts were terminated before the agreed upon amount of employment finished.

Although the money per employee amounts to about $4 in savings for the state, the union is fighting over the unfairness of the cuts.

“They still got screwed because of this and it’s the principle of the matter ? it’s grossly unfair,” Zamora said.

In addition to laying off hundreds of state employees, the governor’s executive order also sets state employees’ wages at $6.55 per hour, the federal minimum wage rate. This is $1.05 lower than the state’s minimum wage.

Schwarzenegger apologized to the state employees affected by the cuts because he said many were already struggling to make enough during difficult times. But he said he has no choice due to the lack of a budget.

California’s fiscal year began July 1, and though the state budget has been late multiple times, this is the latest it has been in some time.

Passing of the budget usually occurs after much debate about spending, but because of a political feud between many Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, it’s been slower than usual.

“The Democrats and Republicans can’t get along,” said Emir Jose Macari, chair of Sac State’s University Budget Advisory Committee and dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences. “And, whenever there is a budget that needs to be dealt with, there is always politics involved.”

However, State Controller Chiang refuses to cut the wages saying the state has enough money to pay its bills through September.

Chiang, with hundreds of laid off state employees and their families supporting him, will face the governor in court in the next few weeks.

Natalie Flynn can be reached at [email protected]