County Reveals Furlough Plan

Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine revealed the county's furlough plan today, which calls for 80 unpaid hours off for all full-time non-public safety and non-public school employees over the next fiscal year. Along with MCPS's plans to increase class size by one student, this is a tangible sign of significant reductions in county services. The budget crisis is REAL, people. Following is Firestine's memo.

OFFICES OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE

Isiah Leggett
County Executive

Timothy L. Firestine
Chief Administrative Officer

M E M O R A N D U M

March 31, 2010
TO: Executive Branch Department and Office Directors
FROM: Timothy L. Firestine, Chief Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Furlough Implementation Plan

The purpose of this memorandum is to apprise you of the proposed County-wide furlough implementation plan and to ask that you identify any operational or service level issues that we need to be aware of in implementing this proposed furlough plan and how you plan to deal with these issues.

1. Under the proposed plan, all full-time employees will be furloughed for 80 hours except sworn uniform police officers, uniform firefighters/rescuers, uniform correctional officers, and sworn uniform deputy sheriffs, sworn uniform merit police managers, uniform merit fire/rescue managers, uniform merit correctional managers and sworn uniform merit deputy sheriff managers (see attached chart for specific occupational classifications). The County’s Personnel Regulations are being amended to allow a furlough to be taken for less than one work day. The furlough for part-time employees should be prorated based on their budgeted annual working hours. For example, employees scheduled to work 1,040 hours per year should be furloughed for 40 hours.

2. Due to operational needs, there will not be government-wide fixed furlough days. Rather, furloughs will be implemented on a “rolling” basis, to be taken by employees, subject to supervisor approval, throughout FY11.

3. All full-time employees will be required to take 80 hours of “furlough leave.” The process will include a “bank” of unpaid leave that will be created through MCTime, and employees will be required to exhaust the 80-hour furlough leave within FY11. As a consequence, employees’ pay will be reduced by the equivalent of 80 hours (approximately 3.8%) over the course of FY11; thus, the biweekly paycheck will be reduced by 3.8%.

4. It will be incumbent upon each employee to take the appropriate number of furlough hours within FY 11. That is, 80 hours for full-time employees and a prorated amount for part-time employees. Shortly, Payroll will provide you with the appropriate pay code to enter into MCTime for furlough leave. Furlough leave must be properly coded as such on time cards. Supervisors will be responsible for monitoring time sheets for proper coding and for scheduling employees so that they will be able to take their required number of furlough hours.

5. An employee will not be allowed to count furlough hours toward the employee’s overtime compensation threshold. Under the Montgomery County Personnel Regulations (MCPR), furlough is defined as “a temporary, non-pay status and absence from normally scheduled duty required by the CAO due to lack of funds or work.” MCPR § 1-27. “A department director must compensate an employee with overtime pay or compensatory time if the employee’s total hours in a pay status during a workday or workweek exceed the overtime compensation threshold.” MCPR § 10-7(a). And, an employee must not be allowed to make up furlough hours by working additional hours at another time. A furlough is a permanent loss of work hours. MCPR § 30-2(b).

6. Since the purpose of furloughs is to produce substantive savings, employees must not incur overtime to backfill staff who are out on furlough. We clearly understand that in order to effectively and efficiently implement the furloughs, there may be a reduction in services in some areas of operation. It is incumbent upon each department director to implement the furloughs in a way that is cost-neutral and has minimal service impact.

7. By close of business Wednesday, April 14, please submit to Fariba Kassiri, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, a memorandum that identifies any operational or service level issues that we need to be aware of and how you plan to deal with these issues. Please be as specific as possible as to which program, service or facility will be affected, types and numbers of employees involved, citizens, clients or customers to be affected, and the anticipated scope and time of any service disruption.

We are planning to negotiate with MCGEO on the procedures for implementing the furlough, and will consult with you throughout this process. In addition, very shortly OHR will send you a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) to assist you in developing your department’s implementation plan. If you have any other questions related to the furlough implementation, please contact Kaye Beckley in OHR via e-mail at Kaye.Beckley@montgomerycountymd.gov or by phone at 240-777-5041.

TLF:st

cc: Steve Farber

Attachment

Occupational Classifications Exempted from the Furlough
CLASS CODE/CLAS`S TITLE
003063 POLICE CAPTAIN
003065 POLICE LIEUTENANT
003067 POLICE SERGEANT
003074 MASTER POLICE OFFICER
003080 POLICE OFFICER III
003082 POLICE OFFICER II
003084 POLICE OFFICER I
003165 FIRE/RESCUE BATTALION CHIEF
003167 FIRE/RESCUE CAPTAIN
003168 FIRE/RESCUE LIEUTENANT
003169 MASTER FIREFIGHTER/RESCUER
003170 FIREFIGHTER/RESCUER III
003171 FIREFIGHTER/RESCUER II
003233 CORRECTIONAL UNIT COMMANDER - CAPTAIN
003234 CORRECTIONAL SUPERVISOR - SERGEANT
003235 CORRECTIONAL SHIFT COMMANDER - LIEUTENANT
003237 CORRECTIONAL OFFICER III* ( CORPORAL)
003238 CORRECTIONAL OFFICER II (PFC)
003239 CORRECTIONAL OFFICER I (PVT)
003525 DEPUTY SHERIFF CAPTAIN
003527 DEPUTY SHERIFF LIEUTENANT
003528 DEPUTY SHERIFF SERGEANT
003529 DEPUTY SHERIFF III
003530 DEPUTY SHERIFF II
003531 DEPUTY SHERIFF I