Anyone else likely to get furloughed (for those who work in the US)?

[Tom_Tildrum]

My brother-in-law has been informed by his agency that he will be staying home every Wednesday. Announcements have been made at my wife’s office and mine that furloughs will happen, and I assume we will presumably be sent home on some similar schedule, but no logistics have yet been announced.

[Edward_The_Head]

@Taters

Just received pretty much official notification from the very top person in our Command that furlough, 22 days/176 hours is going to occur.

We haven’t gotten anything like that just yet.

Now, we have to receive written notification and it should occur sometime mid March.

I think I said before, we’ve been told it would start April 7, that’s a Sunday and I’m guessing it’s the start of the pay period.

[/quote]
What really bites is that I cannot take any vacation this year because any days off are to be unpaid. I can’t afford to take weeks of unpaid leave. That just sucks because I really need a break, damn it.
[/quote]

We haven’t been told this. We don’t know anything about our leave. Guess I’ll find out as I have already bought my plane tickets for two different places, neither are refundable either. The one starts April 8th too!

Finally, a $1200 a month pay cut really hurts.

I haven’t figured out what mine is just yet, but I’m sure it’s at least that. I’d be ok mostly if I didn’t have child support as well. On the plus side it will be warmer out so I can turn off the heat and save money that way. Plus I’ll really know how to make bread!

[Taters]

Go to OPM.gov and read the furlough guidance they’ve put out there.

Leave is considered a form of compensation; therefore you cannot use any, especially in lieu of furlough. Here’s a link to OPM.gov that will answer many questions.

http://www.opm.gov/faqs/Search.aspx?q=furlough&start=0

I have received guidance specific to my agency and command and that guidance specifically states we cannot take or use leave during the furlough period. Any time off is UNPAID.

Additionally, I’m on an alternative work schedule, with every other Friday off. I will have to revert back to a regular 40/5 because if I keep my RDO, they will use that as my furlough day and instead of calling it 8 hours, it would be 9 hours. That would be 198 hours and would affect my benefits, and leave service computation date.

[Machine_Elf]

@Taters

What really bites is that I cannot take any vacation this year because any days off are to be unpaid. I can’t afford to take weeks of unpaid leave. That just sucks because I really need a break, damn it.

:dubious: Are you sure you understand the policy correctly? Can you point to a specific official cite on OPM.gov or something?

I can understand that we aren’t allowed to use paid leave on the specific days that we are ordered to take furlough, but I would have thought we could use paid leave for the in-between days when we would normally be working for pay. For example, if you are supposed to be furloughed every Friday, I would think you could take paid leave Monday-Thursday, and then Friday would be an unpaid furlough day. Are you sure that’s not the case?

[Taters]

Here is one of the links.

http://www.cpms.osd.mil/Content/Documents/2013%20Furlough%20FAQs.pdf

I’m not the only one reading it this way. Read several pages down until you come to the section about leave.

If this is really the case, how the hell are they going to compensate people who are in use or lose status and can’t use their leave? Not to mention any comp time earned. You have to use that within a year or it reverts to overtime pay and that does not make an agency happy.

[Machine_Elf]

@Taters

Here is one of the links.

http://www.cpms.osd.mil/Content/Documents/2013%20Furlough%20FAQs.pdf

I’m not the only one reading it this way. Read several pages down until you come to the section about leave.

I see Question #11, reprinted here:

@DCPAS

11. If an employee who received a furlough notice had previously scheduled annual or sick leave, what happens to the scheduled leave?

Upon furlough, all scheduled leave is canceled (annual leave, sick leave, or other). Absences during the furlough may not be charged to leave.

I guess it boils down to the definition of “furlough.” If “furlough” refers to a period during which specific individual days must be taken as LWOP, then yes, no vacation is allowed during the next several months. OTOH, if “furlough” refers only to the individual days that must be taken as LWOP, then we should be fine taking paid vacation on the in-between days when we would otherwise be working.

Which brings us back to question #1 in that same document:

@DCPAS

1. What is a furlough?

A furlough is the placing of an employee in a temporary non-duty, non-pay status because of lack of work or funds, or other non-disciplinary reasons. For most employees, there are two basic categories of furloughs, an “emergency” furlough or a “save money” furlough, each involving different procedures.

This sure sounds like a furlough is nothing more than the actual day on which you are forced to take LWOP.

If I’m wrong, then what would be the point of prohibiting employees from using annual leave on days when they are expected to work for pay?

[Taters]

I would like to be wrong; boy howdy I want to be wrong.

The problem is that I’m not the only reading it that way, those with the “decision making power” are reading that way too. We have been told to await the word on that particular part.

This is an administrative furlough.

[Shagnasty]

@Machine_Elf

This sure sounds like a furlough is nothing more than the actual day on which you are forced to take LWOP.

If I’m wrong, then what would be the point of prohibiting employees from using annual leave on days when they are expected to work for pay?

I think the claim is that everyone is going to be so overworked and short staffed by the cuts that even essential work will not get done. I think they are trying to mitigate the issue by prohibiting discretionary time off when they are working.

Some dire predictions are that mid sized airports will have to close because of lack of ATC and TSA personnel and people may have to wait months to get even routine documentation done. That may be true in some situations but call me skeptical in general. I have never been in a government office where everyone was working at full capacity. If someone teaches them the concept of the hustle like you learn in Little League or private businesses during peak times, most problems shouldn’t happen at all.

[Dag_Otto]

@Taters

I would like to be wrong; boy howdy I want to be wrong.

The problem is that I’m not the only reading it that way, those with the “decision making power” are reading that way too. We have been told to await the word on that particular part.

This is an administrative furlough.

It would help if DPCAS didn’t put out so may pdfs to confuse the issue.

[This one seems to agree](www.cpms.osd.mil/Content/Documents/2013 DoD Administrative Furlough FAQs (FINAL).pdf) with what Machine Elf suggested, that your are on furlough only on the days you actually don’t work due to the furlough (question 9 on page 4). If your furlough day is Friday, then you can still take leave on the other 4 days of the work week. You just can’t take leave on Friday, since the purpose of the furlough is to NOT pay you for that day.

[Machine_Elf]

@Shagnasty

I think the claim is that everyone is going to be so overworked and short staffed by the cuts that even essential work will not get done. I think they are trying to mitigate the issue by prohibiting discretionary time off when they are working.

I guess I would have expected individual managers to decide whether their group can handle individuals taking paid leave.

In any event, we’ll all be finding out for sure in just a few days…

[BlinkingDuck]

@2gigch1

I am writing the following for informational purposes only. I am NOT trying to tell anyone they should not be upset about what is happening, or any other criticism. I am only relating it so you can read about what happened to myself and my coworkers.
I work in the private sector. Our parent company four years ago was tightening it’s belts. Many employees were being asked to take furloughs. Because I am a member of a union, they did not have the right to furlough us. Instead (we were in negotiations) we were offered either a permanent pay cut (equalling about 17% in my case) or layoffs of unit members. We chose the pay cut (to protect our members) though they did lay off some folks anyway later.

We wanted furloughs! If I was going to lose money, I wanted time off, and besides, four years later I am still out a lot of money (though slightly less; I did get a couple small bumps since).

It did contribute greatly to the loss of my house (with other significant factors).
I repeat, I am NOT trying to say “you should stop whining” or anything like that. What I am saying is it sucks, mightily.

Yea, I don’t want to kick people when they down but it seems the difference between the private and govt sector is that in the private sector they cut your pay but still expect you to work full-time plus.

Back in 2001 after 9/11 the company I worked for cut pay 20% “temporarily”…but looked at you like you were insane when asked if that meant 4 day weeks.

[Machine_Elf]

@BlinkingDuck

Yea, I don’t want to kick people when they down but it seems the difference between the private and govt sector is that in the private sector they cut your pay but still expect you to work full-time plus.

That’s the positive side, I guess. We’ll get paid less, but at least we’ll have more time to get some crap done around the house.

[Taters]

…but less time to get the same, and in my case, MORE work done at work.

I’m an analyst and of course, this means one more thing to track and respond to with data pulls and analyzing and slides. God, so many freakin’ slides.

[Mama_Zappa]

@pullin

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.

DOD contractor here. Supposedly our project is funded with multi-year money, so we won’t be immediately affected. However, due to some bureaucratic stuff, it’s possible our renewal / extension won’t be processed in a couple of months.

I don’t know if my employer (vs. the prime contractor) would cover much time off.

[Edward_The_Head]

Well congrats jerks for going home for the weekend. Guess you’re not going to mind the next time a chart needs to get out the door if I go home then right?