NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A state appeal court says that the Jefferson Parish Public School System illegally cut teachers’ pay by imposing an unpaid day of leave for every teacher in the district.

The Jefferson Federation of Teachers sued the school board after it ordered the furlough. District Judge Steve Windhorst refused to make a pretrial order against it.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal sent the case back to him Wednesday, ruling that the furlough violates state law forbidding school boards to cut an employee’s salary below the previous year’s level.

It’s the second such ruling this year. Union spokeswoman Emily Mendenhall says school support workers were paid after a similar ruling in April.

School board spokeswoman Monica Pierre said she had not heard of the ruling and could not immediately comment.