Nearly all of the state government's 55,000 employees have had to take several unpaid furlough days since the first half of 2009, under the requirements of legislation and negotiated union agreements intended to deal with the budget crisis.
But a small number of the state's most elite employees -- about 180 Superior and Appellate court judges, and Supreme Court justices -- had the option of not taking the furloughs, and 26 have chosen not to.
As reported in Sunday's Government Watch column in The Courant, that happened despite a formal request by the high court's chief justice, Chase T. Rogers, that they "take these days for the overall good of the [Judicial] Branch and for the morale of our dedicated employees."