STATE TRIAL ATTORNEYS'ASSN v. State of California

In this action four civil service attorneys employed in the Legal Division of the State Department of Transporta tion (together with several representative organizations) seek salaiy parity with attorneys having equivalent positions in other state agencies. Their appeal requires analysis of Government Code section 18850, the statute which expresses the standards to be observed by the State Personnel Board in fixing civil service salaries. We hold that the State Personnel Board violates section 18850 when, in deference to “compaction” caused by statutory and noncivil service salaries within a state department, it denies civil service employees in. that department salary parity with employees of comparable duties and responsibilities in other departments.

The individual petitioners áre the deputy and assistant chiefs and two deputy attorneys IV of the Department of Transportation’s legal division. Petitioners instituted this declaratory relief and mandamus action in 1974. The superior court rejected their claim to salaiy parity, holding that in fixing petitioners’ salaries the State Personnel Board could lawfully give way to compacted internal salary relationships within…