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| Lewis County Proposes Voluntary Furlough Program for Some County Employees May 07, 2020 08:30 a.m. By: Nick Altmire |
county lawmakers to move forward with a voluntary furlough program for some county employees, following an executive session discussion during Tuesday night's meeting of the Lewis County Board of Legislators. The board was provided information showing projected financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Aide (50% reduction as outlined by the Governor): $3.5M Total Revenue Shortfall: $5M Total Revenue Shortfall as % of $50M Operating Budget: 10% Based on those projections, the following voluntary furlough plan was presented to legislators, who ultimately authorized its approval after coming out of the lengthy executive session. All discussions on the topic were held in executive session and the media was not allowed to hear any of that discussion. The plan below is what Mr. Piche said was presented to the legislators and was provided to us late yesterday afternoon. Voluntary Furloughs (Saves $139,000 over 12 weeks) The County would ask CSEA union employees (excludes Road Patrol) to volunteer to take a furlough beginning May 18th and ending July 31st. Department Heads have identified which work-units would be eligible to accept volunteers. Due to the nature of work and current staffing levels, the following work units would be ineligible for a voluntary furlough:
Volunteers will be collected by department heads and submitted to Human Resources for review. If there are more volunteers than the county is able to accept, furloughs will be awarded by seniority in the unit. Preliminary estimates are the county would accept 26 voluntary furloughs. If they don't receive enough volunteers, probationary employees (first six months with the County) who are unprotected by CSEA would be approached first for an involuntary furlough. Lewis County would be responsible for paying 50% of the State unemployment amount, or a maximum of $252.00 per employee per week. Preliminary estimates are that a voluntary furlough plan would save the County approximately $139,000 over twelve weeks. Voluntarily furloughed employees would be eligible for $600/week from the federal Pandemic Unemployment Program. This process will not be undertaken unilaterally by the County. The County must work hand-in-hand with the CSEA bargaining unit, just as the Health System did a few weeks ago. County officials met with CSEA leadership on Monday, and they were receptive to the plan. An executed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Union is needed before proceeding with Voluntary Furloughs. The board also discussed a Shared Work Program (Saves $177,000 over 12 weeks), but no action was taken for that. County officials will be holding their weekly press conference later this afternoon and plan to discuss details of the furlough program then. |
