Town hall addresses upcoming furlough days

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dana J. Butler
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  

The civilian personnel office held a town hall meeting at the Strike Eagle Complex July 1, for Department of Defense civilian employees to address administrative furlough days.

A furlough places an employee in a temporary non-duty, non-pay status because of lack of work, reduction or lack of funds, or other non-disciplinary reasons.

The upcoming government furlough will be 11 days, or 88 work hours, from July 8 to Sept. 30.

The meeting, during which employees received legally-required furlough decision letters, covered topics such as proper use of furlough days.

Employees may:

· Consult with their supervisor or civilian personnel office regarding outside employment

· Schedule a furlough day before or after a holiday - they will get paid for the holiday

· Take annual or sick leave in conjunction with a furlough day

· Coordinate their furlough day with their supervisor

· Contact their supervisor or other support channels if they need financial guidance or assistance

Employees may not:

· Schedule a furlough day before and after a holiday - they will not get paid for the holiday

· Volunteer to do their job on a non-pay basis

· Earn credit hours during hours or days designated as furlough time off

· Substitute other forms of paid time off (e.g., annual, sick, court, or military leave, credit hours earned, any compensatory time earned off, or time off awards) instead of taking administrative furlough time off

· Travel for official business on a furlough day

"The most important thing that someone should do is ensure that they coordinate with their supervisor before they take a furlough day off," said Kim Saner, 100th Force Support Squadron civilian personnel officer. "We realize that furloughs are going to impact the mission, but we want to make sure that we take our furlough day at the direction of our supervisor so that we impact the mission as minimally as possible."

Saner also spoke on the financial impact furlough days could bring to employees.

"The other thing that I believe is important is not to let your financial situation get away from you. This is a tremendous impact, 20 percent of someone's pay is not insignificant and so if employees are having financial difficulty they need to make sure they contact their supervisor or leadership," said Saner.

Saner added that all supervisors should make this as positive an opportunity as possible and try to allow furlough days to be taken in conjunction with weekends or annual leave.

"Furlough is a reality. It's not pleasant by any means but CPO is always here to give any information that we have and try to keep everybody as up-to-date as possible," said Saner.