Officially on Furlough

[TeaSea]

For the first time since I was 17 years old....I am not actively employed.

Well, I guess I'm still employed, just laid of for a day.....sequestered.

My day is Mondays (for the next 11 weeks). I intend to get caught up on things at the house.

 

[FSX68]

For the first time since I was 17 years old....I am not actively employed.

Well, I guess I'm still employed, just laid of for a day.....sequestered.

My day is Mondays (for the next 11 weeks). I intend to get caught up on things at the house.

Glad I retired from the Crab Corps (48 = YRs - Navy + Civil Service- when I did (28 Feb 13). Good luck to ya. Retired life is not to bad either.

 

[papab]

For the first time since I was 17 years old....I am not actively employed.

Well, I guess I'm still employed, just laid of for a day.....sequestered.

My day is Mondays (for the next 11 weeks). I intend to get caught up on things at the house.

TeaSea-With such a beautiful day in Tampa today,you ought to be flying.......If you need gas money, let me know!!

Rick
Tampa, FL

 

[JoeW]

Chris ... Is this an official austerity program?
Sorry to hear that.

 

[TeaSea]

Not to worry....Mr. and Mrs. TeaSea have some expensive things, but we live cheap from day to day....

I'm and Air Force Civil Servant working for a Joint Command (being an ex-Army dude, I'm now being punished for my sins). Like all DOD we get to be furloughed. I'll be off one day a week (Monday) for 11 weeks, which will cost me one pay period's worth of salary (+/- $4000.00) this year.

This affects all the civil service employee's working in the command. Ironically, I have enough funding in my organizations budget (which I manage) to pay all my folks. In fact, I already have funds which will go unspent and be turned back into the General Account at the end of the year. That's not the DOD account, but the Federal Gov't as a whole. The way this works is that all civilian pay is "fenced"....can't be spent on anything else. Since you normally have people who will leave during the year, and it will take you time to hire a replacement, it's normal to have excess monies. We used to use those funds to recognize our high performers with a bonus or award. Now that's prohibited.

You realize this whole "sequestration" bit is not about reducing the size of the budget....it's about reducing the rate of growth of the budget. Big difference.

 

[SPman]

We used to use those funds to recognize our high performers with a bonus or award. Now that's prohibited.

And I suppose the salaries are pegged as well - no way of increasing those for the good performers?

 

[TeaSea]

Salaries in the U.S. civil service are set at the national level, so no, one cannot adjust salaries. Each position goes through a review which sets the level for that position, and the subsequent salary rate. Each employee progresses in "steps" which allows for an automatic raise every few years.

We also get a cost of living increase each year....well, we used to. In the current budget fight we have not gotten one for the past two years. As I mentioned, we've not been allowed to pay bonuses or awards, and this past year we were prohibited from giving compensentory time (leave) as a bonus.

most of my folks are veterans and they don't care about the compensation that much, they do it because of the mission. But still......

 

[Panther_99FS]

TeaSea saw it "activate" here in San An...

 

[stansdds]

Where I live the federal government has become the single largest employer, everyone took a 20% pay and time cut beginning yesterday, including my wife. Although many will cheer a 20% cut in federal pay, this trickles down to the private sector in the form of less spending, which could mean even more private sector cuts.