B.C.’s 146 Provincial Court judges are suing the provincial government for refusing to increase their pay and benefits.
The suit against the Attorney-General of B.C. was filed this week by the Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia.
The association is seeking a B.C. Supreme Court order to quash a May 31 vote in the legislature which rejected a number of recommendations to increase judge’s salaries and benefits contained in a report from the 2010 Judges Compensation Commission (JCC).
It is also seeking a declaration that in rejecting the JCC’s recommendations the provincial government “did not conform to the standard set out in the Judicial Compensation Act … and embodied in the constitutional principle of judicial independence for rejecting the recommendations of a judicial compensation commission.”
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After reviewing public submissions from the government and the judges’ association, the JCC had recommended that judges not get any salary increase until 2013 as wage boosts this year and next were unsupportable due to expected deficits in provincial revenues for 2011 and 2012.
The JCC therefore recommended that judges be given a cost of living increase in 2013/14 when the government expects to have a balanced budget.
However, the legislature voted this down as the government had imposed a “net-zero” mandate in public sector contract negotiations.
The judges’ suit claimed that the government gave inaccurate information to the JCC by saying it had recorded a deficit of $2.7 billion in 2009/10 whereas when it released its Public Accounts the deficit was reported as $1.7 billion – a billion dollars less.
Judges salaries have risen from $161,250 in 2004 to $231,138 in 2010.
The JCC recommendation would see that salary increased by six per cent to $245,526 a year, an increase of $14,388.
The suit said that the JCC’s proceedings were constitutionally required as “their purpose is to protect the public interest in an independent judiciary by depoliticizing the setting of judicial remuneration.”
It said that the government may reject or vary JCC recommendations provided legitimate reasons were given.
But it claimed that the government’s rejection of the JCC report was “irrational and unreasonable” and that while judges were paid from public funds they were not public sector employees but an independent branch of government.
There are 111 full-time Provincial Court judges in B.C. and 35 part-time presiding in 100 locations in 88 communities.
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