I’m a DoD contractor in DC, and it seems pretty likely that everyone in my office is going to be furloughed- specifically, we’ll probably be working 4 day weeks soon, and losing 20% of our pay.
Anyone else in the same boat? If so, what do you plan to do with the unpaid day off?
I feel for you. We’re starting to reduce our furlough days. When they first went into effect, there were 17 of them, if I remember right. (So it was half or less of the paycheck hit you’re facing.) This year there are only 12.
I’m actually going to miss them when they’re gone. They did them right. Instead of regular days off, they clustered them around holidays, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It boosts a handful of three day weekends into four day weekends, which almost feels like a week off. And there’s no wrestling for time off at the end of the year.
Hope you end up dodging that bullet.
I work for a DoD contractor. I *think *I’m going to be safe thru this one. Word is that our department is still short-handed and we’re actually still hiring. A lot of my co-workers won’t be so lucky though.
In answer to the second question; Should I find myself with extra days off, I think I’ll spend them fishing or hunting. The boat and the lease are essentially paid for (thru the year), so using them on days off would be pretty low-cost.
Why are you being furloughed? (I’m not in the US.)
Their company doesn’t have enough money coming in to pay everyone full time. In my case, I work for a city, and it’s the same deal.
On March 1, it is likely that the federal government will enact a series of steep budget cuts (sequestration).
I work for a local office of HUD. For months, there’s been talks of budget reductions at the monthly staff meetings. Last month, the boss said there would probably be reduction in hours. I’m a tad worried.
Today, the HR lady sent out an email asking department managers if they wanted to bring in unpaid interns to take up some of the slack. I’m a bit more worried.
Only 9 days to go… let’s wait and see.
I work for a defense contractor in Patuxent River, Maryland. We have been told that furloughs might happen. The DOD Civilians have been told to expect 22 Fridays off. By Law, they have to be given a 45 day notice. Sequestration starts 1 March, so they are expecting every Friday off from 15 April to the end of the fiscal year, 30 September. If they close the entire base for those days, then the contractors will take a hit, also.
Good luck guys. Hope this doesn’t happen.
I work for the FAA and if it happens we’re going to get days off too. They tell us anywhere between 11 and 22 days, or up to one day a week.
This could hurt safety quite a bit. Controllers will be off, inspectors, and the people who do all the airport data for the public.
We’ve been told that it’s likely to happen, though things are still unclear. We would be given 30 days notice so it wouldn’t happen until early April. They’ve also told us that they could cancel leave, which would suck as I’ve bought plane tickets to Ireland in July. Not sure what they would do in that case.
Hey, neighbor! I also work for a contractor - on Great Mills Rd - and as a temp, I fully expect to be without work at all. Since I’m a gummint retiree, I have a pension check to fall back on, and frankly, with spring approaching, I kinda hope I can trade my cubicle for my garden. The loss of income will suck, but I was retired for a year before taking this gig, so it’s doable.
I work for SSA. In the letter to the POTUS from the Commission of SSA, it was said that office hours open to the public would potentially be reduced, claim backlogs would rise, etc., but it does not look like furloughs are as imminent for us as they seem to be for other agencies like DoD.
That said, the letter does say that furloughs are still possible. I know that he said the Agency plans on losing 5,000 employees through attrition in FY2013 and outright laying off 1,500 temporary and rehired annuitant employees.
After buying a house, a 20% pay cut would be pretty devastating. We shall wait and see. It does not look like the Republicans in the HoR have any intention on preventing it, so buckle your seatbelts.
I’m a Dept of Defense/Dept of Army civilian working on a very large joint Army/AF installation, in an Army hospital. Although nothing “official” has gone out, we’ve been told to expect 22 unpaid days off; one day every week. It’s going to hurt and I honestly don’t have any faith in Congress actually doing something to prevent it.
The unpaid days would run through the end of the fiscal year for us.
My husband and I usually take a trip to Kauai with our friends every year; I’ve already told them I don’t think it’s going to happen for us this year. Mainly because my daughter is also getting married this summer, and although we are not on the hook for the entire cost of the wedding, we plan to help and are paying for a trip for them. That money has been laid aside and we don’t want to touch it.
The only thing the Commerce Department has said, to my knowledge, is that they’d give at least 30 days’ notice of any furloughs.
I wouldn’t mind some time off. My wife and I have more money than time.
Could you take your furlough days in one bundle and use them as unpaid vacation days for your Ireland trip?
EPA here. Just heard this morning from our on-site AFGE rep that we should expect 15 furlough days over the remainder if the fiscal year if the sequester happens. 30 days’ notice before any furlough though, so the first day(s) of furlough at this point would not be before March 25. If we can get them lumped together, that would be a nice opportunity for a road trip, but I suspect they won’t do that.
Just put a deposit down last week on a new car, but wife and I live well within our means, she’s working, and we’ve got a pretty good pile of savings, so I’m not expecting any financial difficulty.
I work for a US Air Force contractor. I think we are good for now; however, our contract comes up for re-compete in October. Probably have to take a pay cut for us to keep the contract.
Ironically I just gave up a part time job teaching at the local community college as it was taking up too much of my spare time and I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I may have to go back there if I have to take a pay cut at my day job.
More then likely not. They said that there are problems with taking too much unpaid leave at one time, mostly with insurance and such.
We’ve already been told that we can not take vacation or sick leave on the days we would have off. This is because they don’t want to pay us. It’s only been in passing they’ve said they might cancel leave, but I’ve already paid for my tickets so I’ll be going.
They’ve also told us that even if something does get done about the sequestration, there still is the possibility for other furloughs a few weeks after that. It seems like my office is one of the few actually saying much of anything.
Actually the minimum notice period is 30 days. Those covered by a bargaining unit agreement could have a long notification period, but 30 days is the required minimum.
The federal agency determines whether a furlough is broken up over the course of a time period (discontinuous) or all at once (continuous). One side of Congress is against continuous furloughs because that may allow furloughed employees to apply for unemployment, thus defeating the purpose to save money and “punish” federal workers.
There is also something that being on continuous furlough might restrict you to callback. In other words, if you are furloughed for 22 continuous days (30 calendar days) you might not be allowed to travel the world during that time if your agency initiates a callback during the furlough and you are not around, unless you wanted to be charged with AWOL (which can jeopardize your job). I need to find the actual authority on this one, though.
BTW, the 22 days furlough number is critical. If furloughed for more than 22 days, RIF (reduction in force) rules apply. It is expensive to set up and administer a RIF furlough (again defeating the purpose to save money) so agencies are financially limited to no more than 22 days, continuous or discontinuous.