Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court Arthur Morrell has called off his plan to furlough nearly all of his office's dozens of employees, a day after announcing it.

Morrell said Saturday that he was backing down on his threat to furlough about 80 workers at the request of Karen Herman, the chief judge of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

The two were set to meet to discuss the situation on Monday, the same day that the furlough would have gone into effect.

In a telephone interview on Saturday, Morrell said the furlough was being called off until further notice.

Morrell's decision averts for now a move that could have brought the rest of the city's criminal justice system to a halt.

Under state law, only the clerk's office is legally authorized to perform many functions. It acts as a central hub for processing bail paperwork and storing official court records.

New Orleans clerk of court announces near-total shutdown, furloughing employees and stranding inmates Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court Arthur Morrell announced Friday that he is going nuclear in his long-running budget dispute wi…

Morrell has been locked in a budget dispute with the city of New Orleans since the administration of former Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He contends that the city has failed to fulfill its obligation under state law to pay for the salaries of the full contingent of staffers he says he needs.

While Morrell has won several rounds in state court, the city under Mayor LaToya Cantrell has continued to fund his office at a lower level than his budget request.

Cantrell's office said that funding for Morrell's operations was actually increased in the 2020 budget, to $4 million. But he said the funding bump didn't come with his most important objective, added manpower; he had asked for $4.6 million.

Morrell's announcement on Friday that he was essentially closing up shop as a result of the budget battle seemed to catch others in the criminal justice system by surprise. Some worried that inmates would not be able to post bail or courts would not be able to generate dockets.