800 Minn. workers to get layoff notices this week
Published 7:16 pm Tuesday, May 31, 2011
ST. PAUL, Minn. — About 800 Minnesota state employees will start getting layoff notices this week as Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration prepares for a possible government shutdown on July 1, officials said Tuesday.
The Minnesota Management and Budget office said State Patrol troopers, Department of Natural Resources conservation officers and licensed officers of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension would get notices Wednesday. Workers at those agencies are represented by the Minnesota Law Enforcement Association, and have contracts that require layoff notices by certain dates.
A new two-year state budget is supposed to be in place by July 1, but an impasse over taxes and spending between Dayton, a Democrat, and Republicans who control the Legislature has cast doubt on whether that will happen. A much larger group of about 35,000 state employees are due to get layoff notices July 10.
Some workers will be kept on if a court determines they perform critical services. That’s particularly the case with the law enforcement employees. State Patrol troopers were among the employees deemed critical during a partial state shutdown in 2005 and were kept on the job.
The regular legislative session ended May 23 with no budget deal between Dayton and GOP leaders, and in the week since there’s been no sign of progress between the two sides. Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, said Tuesday that she expected negotiations to resume soon.
The state Department of Administration on Tuesday warned private contractors, vendors and grantees that do business with the state that their work and payments likely will be suspended July 1 unless a new state budget is in place.
