MADISON (WRN) - The state government’s unionized engineers have asked a judge to throw out the temporary layoffs ordered by the Doyle administration. The Engineers Association said officials structured the layoffs so it could recover unemployment benefits the union members say they’re entitled to get. And they say they’re being laid off longer than other state workers. The others are required to take 8 days off without pay in each of the 2 fiscal years in the current state budget. Most union contracts allow the furloughs, but the deal with the engineers does not. The group said it did not agree to the furloughs, so the state laid them off for 9 days a year – one day longer than the others – and to arrange them so they don’t qualify for the unemployment pay they’d normally get. Other furloughed employees do not qualify for jobless benefits, because they take off just one day at a time. The lawsuit asks that the layoffs do not last longer than the other furloughs. The engineers’ union has 1,100 members in over a dozen state agencies – and most work for the DOT. The department’s attorney and an administration spokeswoman are not commenting on the suit. Carla Vigue said attorneys are reviewing it.