Furloughs can begin April 26, DOD comptroller says

News > Furloughs can begin April 26, DOD comptroller says

Furloughs can begin April 26, DOD comptroller says

Posted 3/11/2013

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by Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

3/11/2013 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Unless Congress acts to end sequestration, furloughs for Defense Department civilian employees can begin April 26, the department's comptroller said here March 11.

Robert F. Hale discussed the furlough planning process with a Pentagon audience. The comptroller also took questions sent in via Facebook and Twitter.

DOD is the only agency in the U.S. government that has to notify Congress when it wants to impose furloughs. Officials did that Feb. 20. "There is a 45-day waiting period after we submit that notification before furloughs can start," Hale said.

The department asked commands to identify civilians who would be excepted from furloughs. That information is back in the Pentagon, Hale said, and officials are reviewing the recommendations. Their goal is to complete that review by March 15, he added.

After notifying Congress, the department began legally required bargaining with unions. About a dozen unions have national consultation rights, Hale said, and local commanders are in the process of notifying several local unions. "The unions, in this case, don't have the right to bargain not to do the furloughs, he said. "They do have the right to bargain how they are implemented."

If Congress does not act on sequestration, later this month the department will send letters to the excepted employees and propose furloughs for the rest, Hale said. There is a seven-day period for people to reply to their letters, followed by a 30-day waiting period.

"At the end of that period, we can send decisions of furloughs, and those furloughs can start," he said.

When the formal notice is sent, civilian employees have the right to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. "We've never done this," Hale said, "and I hope we never do. ... It's not quite clear what this appeal right will be, but the appeal right is there."

If Congress does not act, civilian employees will be furloughed without pay for 22 days -- one day a week through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. For affected civilian employees, this amounts to a 20 percent cut in pay from the beginning of furloughs through the end of the fiscal year.

Comments

4/10/2013 11:49:55 AM ET
As a civilian employee since 1992 I realized that the federal government has given me the oportunity to have a carreer and a good job I received free education and a better job I think is time for me to give something in return I don't see any sacrifice of my part I think if we all work as a team we can survive the furlough we just need to save some money and sacrifice eating out too much.

Liliana, San Antonio

3/20/2013 2:55:30 PM ET
If the purpose of the furlough is to create cost savings to meet the cuts and my agency already has the civilian pay amount in lapse fundssavings to cover the furlough costs due to hiring freeze and hiring delays why does my commander still have to furlough employees Why not exempt the agency and pull the existing cost savings No one has to be furloughed to realize the savings.

Counting Beans, MD

3/20/2013 9:39:17 AM ET
@Larry Yeley MSG ret USA Your comments are noted. But keep in mind a lot of the younger civilians and civilians in lower grades don't have a military retirement and benefits to fall back on. This doesn't affect you like it does them. Telling them to keep a positive attitude is almost insulting.

Bill, Fort Worth

3/18/2013 4:11:34 PM ET
What is going on here why are most focusing on military vs. civilian I am retired military now working as a civilian for the past 7 years and let me tell you this I love what I do because there is no other organization on earth like the US Military Team and that includes its civilian force. Yes there is waste yes we can do better. We must practice what we have preached for decades success through teamwork. Look after each other support each other during these trying times and support our bases our organizations and our missions. Think outside the box. Identify possible process improvement that allows for waste reduction and improved efficiency. Cross train within your organizations and pick up the slack when and where you can. This is your opportunity to prove to every War-Fighter you support that you do care. I am not thinking about how much less I can do but how I can get more done with less. A positive attitude will go a long way towards seeing you through tough times my

Larry Yeley MSG ret, USA

3/15/2013 12:10:23 PM ET
I keep hearing that FMS since funded by FMS countries will be exempt. I know there is a ton of waste and admittedly even in DoD but the most waste is outside of DoD. Foreign aid and studies on obese people of certain beliefs come to mind. Let's quit using the DoD as pawns and do the work you were hired to do in Congress. If we didn't do our jobs we wouldn't get paid or get all the vacations you do. On the flipside they recently offered VERA andVSIP here and 880 people applied but only 400 to 500 were allowed to go. A lot of people volunteered to go on early retirement without the incentive but with the ability to collect their retirement with the 2 percent a year penalty and that was denied. Gee that would have saved some money too. There were 182 declinations but they didn't reoffer those early outs. Didn't make sense to me any more than the criteria that seems a bit questionable was. Having said that I wish us all the best. The chess game isn't over yet

Concerned Person, GA

3/14/2013 11:16:19 AM ET
@Mike in Florida if military members were to be furloughed do you think you could deploy for us I figure your response would be something along the lines of IT ISN'T IN MY CONTRACT. You are very narrow minded and should get around to other units and other bases everyone is supporting the mission in different ways and it isn't always by deploying. For your information PT is mandatory and can be a career ender so it isn't like we have a choice to work out all the time. Sounds to me like you should really consider other employment options that don't involve working with military.

Steve, Southeast US

3/13/2013 7:13:18 PM ET
Everyone is upset hurting and worried. I can understand that and posting our feelings is our right however those who failed to vote for change this past November should not complain now because all of us who did vote for change knew this was going to happen. A law should be passed that all our elective officials should serve at least 4 years in the military. We work as a team. Serving will teach them we are a family military and civilian with the same goals not separate political parties with our own agenda.

AF is a Family, West Coast

3/13/2013 9:26:17 AM ET
The furloughs will cause civil service to go on 4 days of unpaid leave each month reducing the paycheck by 20 percent but the workload will not decrease. The budget issues wil cut TA slice family services cause the GS pay raise first since 2010 to be eliminated cancel military schooling reduce readiness and training. this toches everyone and the unspoken impact upon contractors has not been publicly addressed yet. it is csad the elected and appointed officials who are not impacted one ounce one iota do not have skin in the game can sit back and politic pontificate postulate as others feel the impact on pocketbooks services careers. A shame upon our elected officials.

Helping Warriors daily, JBSA Randolph

3/13/2013 7:22:04 AM ET
I am embarrassed at the infighting and finger pointing that I am seeing in the comments. We are all in this together. We are not a civilian Air Force and a military Air Force. We are the United States Air Force. Everyone needs to grow up and realize that this budget fiasco affects everyone.

CMSgt. Michael Zimmerman, Niagara Falls ARS NY

3/13/2013 7:04:45 AM ET
I look at all of your comments and none of them address the real problem here. Some say get rid of people if you don't notice them missing some of you think that loosing your benefits counts as a financial loss etc... The big picture here is that from the President on down nobody is making a real honest effort to create savings at any level. There is wasteful spending taking place 247. Open your eyes people...Let the sun shine in. We spend billions and billions and billions on things that make no sense. This Furlough will save nothing compared to what we spend. If you want to know what kind of impact it will have on Gov't savings go flush a one dollar bill down the toilet and see how it makes you feel. It is not going to have a significant impact on your life or your bank account. This is about how the furlough will impact the Gov't bank account but will hurt people and the economy greatly...Just FYI....

Danno, JBCHS

3/12/2013 6:19:05 PM ET
I have to agree to some extent with Furlough Away but would argue that most of the GS-12 and above cuts that need to be made are at the MAJCOM staff and higher. A perfect example would be the A-1 staff at ACC where not counting the GS-11's and below there are 2 GS-15's 6 GS-14's 15 GS-15's and 25 yes 25 GS-12's just in the A-1 staff...how many A functions are there at ACC and how many MAJCOMs are there again...just saying

Top, Heavy

3/12/2013 2:04:46 PM ET
Back when I was young and ignorant I bad-mouthed civilians too. Now that I am older more educated retired and still serving I just chuckle at comments like those submitted by Thomas and Furlough. I know one day they will wake up to reality. Since I work in education services I just became very valuable indeed as an advisor to people unable to figure out how to survive the TA cuts and complete their degrees....and to D I will be doing 20 percent less because I will only be allowed to work 4 days a week. So be sure to have an appointment....otherwise.... I might be here when you need me.

ORF, Still Serving

3/12/2013 1:53:43 PM ET
@D...that is exactly the kind of attitude of entitlement that makes many military members unsympathetic to the civilian pay situation. I must agree with Furlough Away because in my experiences too many civilians take their job for granted and will not lift a finger to help out with anything outside of their statement of work. Not all civilians but too many of them. The easy cheesy times are over my civilian friends.

Guy, Here

3/12/2013 12:44:25 PM ET
Furlough military members at stateside bases too. Most of the active-duty folks I see here haven't deployed in years and I barely ever see them in uniform let alone deploying or anything. All I ever see them doing is PT. Furlough them or deploy them.

Mike, Florida

3/12/2013 11:44:23 AM ET
Before all of the civilians start posting comments about losing pay and not being able to pay their bills remember that this is effecting ALL of the DoD. Military and Civilian alike. I am sorry about that and I do sympathize with you but if all you are worried about is your personal affairs then you really should evaluate your reasons for being on the government payroll. Ask yourself Are you here just to earn a paycheck or are you here because you believe in what this country stands for and have the desire to defend it If all you care about is the paycheck then we could probably do without you.Everyone's ability to complete their part of the mission is directly affected by the lack of supplies inability to ship assets missing support from Technicians being furloughed and everything else being cut. Oh and BTW Since TA is gone for the rest of the FY I have to either put my degree on hold or pay for it out of my own pocket. So while my pay is not effected directly either

Walt, Nevada

3/12/2013 10:52:18 AM ET
So if civilians will only get 80 percent of their pay for the rest of the FY can't they just do 80 percent of their work for the rest of the FY too Seems fair to me

D, CONUS

3/12/2013 10:27:14 AM ET
Here at my AFB as Im sure it is at several AFBs we have loads of civilians that we can potentially do without. The majority of them are retired Chiefs and Colonels that maneuvered their way into a civilian supervisory position and still try to act like they are on active duty. Hopefully a side benefit to the furloughs is that leadership realizes that we can do without these useless positions and cut them permanently. Getting rid of a lot of these useless GS-12GS-13 positions could really save a lot of money and cut down the level of red tape we have to go through to get the mission accomplished.

Furlough Away, My AFB

3/12/2013 8:37:22 AM ET
Regarding Mr. Jerry Thomas Sherwood OR comment posted 3112013 51047 PM ET What is they are furloughed and nobody noticesMr. Thomas if a civilian employee is furloughed and nobody notices that should send a strong signal to the respective commander that the position could beshould be removed. I can only speak from my experience and my position removing me from my office one day a weektwo days per pay period will not bring the wheels of my squadron grinding to a screeching halt. It will however be felt by those in my squadron who have grown accustomed to me being at their beck and call they'll have to learn to either do things for themselves or what until I return. But to say that a civilian employee can be furloughed and no one will notice could be misconstrued as an insult to the integrity of our civilan airmen workforce.

William King, Nashville TN

3/11/2013 5:10:47 PM ET
What if they are furloughed and nobody notices.

Jerry Thomas, Sherwood OR

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