HARRISBURG -- Hundreds of state treasury employees got a little something extra with their paychecks yesterday: permission to start their holiday weekend early.

The checks might be the last they'll get for a while because there are no provisions to pay state employees during a budget impasse, so Treasurer Rob McCord wanted to do something special for them by letting them leave two hours early without losing pay, said Elizabeth Kupchinsky, spokeswoman for the Department of Treasury.

"With the current budget situation, a lot of employees are facing financial uncertainties so the treasurer wanted to do something to give them a little boost for the holiday weekend with absolutely no additional cost to the commonwealth," Ms. Kupchinsky said.

Matt Brouillette, president of the watchdog group Commonwealth Foundation, said the early dismissal was the equivalent of giving away taxpayer money at a time the state can least afford it.

"The governor is trying to increase taxes on Pennsylvanians by billions of dollars [through a budget proposal to raise the personal income tax] while the treasury is paying employees not to work," he said. "Just think of the message this sends to those footing the government's bill. It's not good, not good at all."

The treasury employs about 500 people in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Scranton.

The governor's office has no jurisdiction over the Treasury Department and was not aware of any other groups of state employees dismissed early yesterday, said Mr. Rendell's spokesman, Chuck Ardo.

Ms. Kupchinsky said the lost work time did not prevent payments to vendors from being processed on time and should not have inconvenienced residents.

"The work is still getting done," she said.