Furlough, in government/union speak doesn’t that mean paid time off as in vacation?
I have heard rumors that after the budget problem is eventually settled, the furloughed workers will receive compensation (back pay). I don’t know if that’s true. If it is true, then it’s basically an unexpected paid vacation. Sweet for them, huh?
It’s unpaid vacation. The only thing that the gov’t covers...is the amount that is owed for healthcare (their portion, not yours).
So you add this up, and it’s basically three days a month from 1 April to the end of September (you work 17 of the normal days, and take 3 days off). Figure around 16 percent of your pay cut for each month, approximately.
But there is this other side of the deal. If you work with a group of twenty employees....every one of them is on a different schedule. Some guys might take all three off at once. Some might rig up a 3-day weekend. Some might just take a five-day weekend at the end of each month. So you can’t readily view your accomplishments in a normal manner.
I should add this last note. Once we prove that this works, and make it to October....it’s a 95 percent chance that no budget will exist for FY2014, and by January of 2014...we start furlough version 2.0, with another 22 day furlough. And by October 2014? Still no budget? Repeat with another 22 day furlough.
By October of 2015? You can imagine the frustration and hostility over this. Most folks will be talking of early retirement...moving out of DC because of the reduced paycheck...or just accepting a regular job in Texas because this is all a gimmick operation. Maybe in a way...it was designed to this way to purge out the military in five years.
Unpaid time off.