Downstate judge rules state workers should be paid in full

State employees should be paid in full while a budget impasse plays out at the Capitol, a downstate judge ruled Thursday.

The decision in St. Clair County, near St. Louis, contradicts a Tuesday ruling in Cook County, where a judge denied Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger’s request to continue paying workers in full despite the absence of a budget.

Following the downstate ruling Thursday, Munger’s office issued a statement saying she was moving forward with processing payroll for checks due to go out July 15.

“While there will most certainly be additional legal action, I am confident that the court will ultimately determine that paying state employees for their work is the right, and legal, thing to do,” Munger said in a statement. Read the entire story in the Chicago Tribune.