Monterey County Superior Court orders some staff back to work

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) Employees considered "essential" went back to work at the Monterey County Superior Court today.

Employees were directed to do so on Friday, seeming to contradict the county's order for a strengthened shelter-in-place order.

But in reality, Executive Officer Chris Ruhl said the number of people physically coming to work in the courts has not changed much.

"Not all staff are being required to return to work," Ruhl said.

He explained that most of these employees had already been coming into work over the past few weeks. There was just one difference for them after this official order.

“During that last two and a half weeks, or whatever it was, people who were working—whether you’re at the court of at home, were being paid time and a half," Ruhl said.

Since the order, they've been getting paid their normal rate.

Ruhl also said they've been having as many people work from home as possible. This is in line with the county's order, which reads:

"Essential businesses are directed to maximize the number of employees who work from home."

"We'll continue to do that--we've been doing that for several weeks now," Ruhl said.

These employees who are still working are trying to prioritize cases that are most emergent.

“Things like hearing petitions on restraining orders and domestic violence cases," Ruhl said. "We consider that to be a very important essential service.”