This week Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s announced he notified Congress that DoD could begin issuing furlough notices to “the vast majority of its civilian employees” if sequestration is triggered on March 1.
This means that most of DoD’s 800,000 civilian employees could be furloughed for one day per week for up to 22 weeks, amounting to a 20 percent pay cut for affected personnel.
At a press conference this week, pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman provided an overview on the timeline for furlough notification and implementation. He said the clock started ticking on February 21 when Secretary Panetta sent notice to Congress 45 days before DoD begins to furlough employees.
Whitman said DoD will ask components to identify specific exemptions, which will be reviewed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). DoD components will also begin to engage with local unions and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) will notify unions that have bargaining rights.
Employees who might be furloughed must receive a 30-day notice. Whitman said these notifications could be sent out in mid-March, which will start the 30-day waiting period.
Sometime in April, according to Whitman a decision will be sent to each employee. Employees will have a one-week period to appeal that decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Under this timeline, furloughs would not start until late April.
Late last year, the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance on administrative furloughs that could be implemented if sequestration goes into effect. The guidance contains government-wide guidance on furloughs as well as specific information in a FAQ format. DoD has provided additional information relating specifically to DoD employees. Here is some basic information on how furloughs will be handled in DoD
Coverage: All non critical-mission DoD civilian employees are subject to furlough. Military personnel have been declared by presidential order exempt from furlough. No civilian working in a war zone will be furloughed. Some emergency workers or first responders may be exempted.
Scheduling: Furloughs will be scheduled to have minimum impact on operations.
Pay and leave: Employees will not be paid for days on furlough and the lost pay will not be recouped. DFAS will continue to process pay. Leave will not be accrued for days on furlough. Furlough is not considered a break in service and should not affect within-grade or step increases.
Health care coverage: Health care coverage will not be lost on furlough days.
Telework: Employees on furlough are forbidden to work and therefore cannot telework on furlough days.
For answers to specific questions on furlough policy and implementation, contact your human resources office or the Office of Personnel Management.
An aggregate of no more than 2 workweeks in a nonpay status in a waiting period is creditable service for advancement to steps 2, 3, and 4 of the General Schedule; 4 workweeks for advancement to steps 5, 6, and 7; and 6 workweeks for advancement to steps 8, 9, and 10 (5 CFR 531.406(b)). For prevailing rate employees (WG, WL, and WS schedules), an aggregate of 1 workweek nonpay status is creditable service for advancement to step 2, 3 workweeks for advancement to step 3, and 4 workweeks for advancement to steps 4 and 5 (5 CFR 532.417(c)).
The accumulation of nonpay status hours during a leave year can affect the accrual of annual leave and sick leave. (See 5 CFR 630.208(a).) For example, when a full-time employee with an 80-hour biweekly tour of duty accumulates a total of 80 hours of nonpay status from the beginning of the leave year (either in one pay period, or over the course of several pay periods), the employee will not earn annual and sick leave in the pay period in which that 80-hour accumulation is reached. If the employee again accumulates 80 hours of nonpay status, he or she will again not earn leave in the pay period in which that new 80-hour total is reached. (This means that a full-time employee who is in the 6-hour annual leave accrual category and who has accumulated 80 hours of nonpay status in the last pay period of the year will forfeit 10 hours of leave accrual in that pay period.) At the end of the leave year, any accumulation of nonpay status hours of less than 80 hours is zeroed out so that the accumulation for the next leave year starts at zero. For part-time employees, leave accrual is prorated based on hours in a pay status in each pay period; thus, time in nonpay status reduces leave accrual in each pay period containing such time (5 CFR 630.303 and 5 U.S.C. 6307).
Legislators and Congress need to set an example by reducing their pay or work days as well since this problem was not so much caused by the American people as much as it was caused by government mismanagement
I work in the HR Dept and was wondering when we provide the 30 day notice to our employees are we required to have them acknowledge receipt of their 30 day letter in writing. If so, where can I find that information? Thanks in advance.
[…] minds, Hale spent much of his briefing and most of the question and answer period discussing how DoD was preparing to implement furloughs. Hale repeated often that he hoped furloughs, which he called “a last resort, but not […]
Doesn’t look like a positive development.