Vote delayed on state worker pay raise proposal BATON ROUGE, LA. (AP) (wrkf) - A vote has been delayed on a proposal to replace the near-automatic 4 percent annual pay raises given to state employees with a sliding scale of increases tied to performance.

The Civil Service Commission on Wednesday pushed back the vote until its December meeting. Commission members say too few state employees have weighed in on the idea, and they want to have an evening public hearing so more employees can comment.

Several state workers say employees fear retribution from supervisors if they comment or take leave during working hours to talk to the commission.

The proposal would affect more than 61,000 "classified" state employees overseen by the Department of Civil Service. © Copyright 2009, wrkf