Mo. budget doesn't guarantee back pay for corrections workers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri isn't appealing a court ruling that corrections workers are owed more than $4 million. But the state budget doesn't guarantee they will get that money.

A Cole County judge ruled that lawmakers in 2004 illegally excluded more than 1,000 probation and parole officers from a raise for other state workers.

The attorney general had until Monday to appeal. A spokesman says one wasn't filed because there's money in the budget for the back pay. But lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have provided that.

Instead, the budget allows the Corrections Department to use money it doesn't otherwise spend to begin the back payments.

The political director for the employees' union seeking the pay says it isn't fair for the state to continue withholding money.