Wisconsin's elected district attorneys are warning that laying off or furloughing assistant prosecutors, as Gov. Scott Walker's administration has proposed, would be illegal without their consent and would substantially affect community safety.

Earlier this month, the state's Office of State Employment Relations announced that if assistant prosecutors didn't agree to take six more furlough days by June 30, there would be statewide layoffs in the form of reducing all prosecutors to part-time status, with commensurate loss of pay and benefits.

With a May 8 deadline fast approaching, the executive board of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association stepped into the debate Thursday with a letter to Gregory L. Gracz, executive director of the Office of State Employment Relations. The letter states that neither the office nor the Department of Administration has authority to lay off prosecutors without the consent of their elected bosses.

Officials with the Office of State Employment Relations did not return a call seeking comment.

Furthermore, the letter states, while the state public defender can assign overflow cases to private attorneys when its staff absorbs furlough days, there is no such option for prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the state and prosecutors' union have begun discussions that exclude the district attorneys. David Feiss, president of the Association of State Prosecutors, which represents assistant district attorneys, said Thursday that members plan to hold an information session next weekend in Madison before voting on an amended proposal from the Office of State Employment Relations.

Under that plan, the prosecutors would take 20% pay cuts and six more furlough days by July 2. The benefits would not be affected. Unlike the original proposal, the elected DAs would have a say in how the days are scheduled. The new plan also would give prosecutors the option of substituting the furlough days for vacation or sick days already taken in 2011.

The association represents about 350 assistant district attorneys statewide, many of whom received letters Friday stating that the previous plan would take effect May 8 because no memo of understanding between the bargaining unit and state had been reached. It does not mention the revamped proposal and a plan to vote on it later.

Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey, who has only one full-time and one part-time assistant, said losing six days from prosecutors over two months will delay justice.

"The criminals don't take time off," Brey said. "No one can do this work for us. We simply must continue to back up the police, crime victims and help keep our communities safe."

In 2003, prosecutors took furlough days when other state employees did not. In their next contract, they agreed to a maximum of 10 furlough days in 2010 and 2011.

In the state's April 5 layoff notice, it warned the state might be on the hook for more than $11 million in paybacks to other state employees who took 16 furlough days over the past two fiscal years if prosecutors refused to take the extra six days. Some other state employees' bargaining units had agreed to accept those unpaid days off only with provisions that if another bargaining unit took fewer furlough days, that number would apply to the rest.