Federal furloughs...do you think they'll happen?

[Anonymous]

Yes. And I know of a contractor being laid off this week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone heard anything about HHS?

I've heard ACF will have furloughs.

[Anonymous]

Our agency is looking at 2-3 weeks of furlough for each employee. Will be spread out, about 1 day per pay period. Days furloughed will be determined by each dept manager. Many agencies will be giving guidance soon, I suspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about DOJ? Its my understanding that furloughs will be necessary but I'm not sure we've heard about how long and whether it's every component.

FBI is definitely doing furloughs if sequestration happens. Not so clear with the other DOJ components. Our office has been planning and underspending for a long time but have heard that we may be expected to help others that aren't in such good shape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally depends on the agency - my agency has been trimming things down for years, so there likely won't be any furloughs (we are already operating at only 70ish % of where we are supposed to be). I heard FBI is expecting minor furloughs and at least one pary of DOD is expecting major furloughs (1 day a week). Honestly, I think DOD will be the worst hit. Many federal agencies have been under a budget crunch for years now. DOD has not and they have a lot of fat to trim.

+1 my agency has never had a furlough and stayed open back in '96 when the rest of the govt shut down for a week.

Which agency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that the furlough will impact people regardless of productivity.

The most productive thing for the government would be if every manager with lets say 50 employees or more would be told that they have to fire one person, and the decision on who to fire would be completely and totally exempt from civil service rules or procedures.

I promise you that they would jump at the chance to get rid of the one turkey in every office, and even with one less employee productivity would go up and cost would go down. But that will never happen.

This is ignorant, specifically because there are lazy ass managers who would protect their lazy friends and "trim" the people they don't like personally.

+1
Or dumb managers who are just to dumb to make this decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about DOJ? Its my understanding that furloughs will be necessary but I'm not sure we've heard about how long and whether it's every component.

FBI is definitely doing furloughs if sequestration happens. Not so clear with the other DOJ components. Our office has been planning and underspending for a long time but have heard that we may be expected to help others that aren't in such good shape.

Agents, support or both? Field and HQ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about DOJ? Its my understanding that furloughs will be necessary but I'm not sure we've heard about how long and whether it's every component.

FBI is definitely doing furloughs if sequestration happens. Not so clear with the other DOJ components. Our office has been planning and underspending for a long time but have heard that we may be expected to help others that aren't in such good shape.

Agents, support or both? Field and HQ?

Everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally depends on the agency - my agency has been trimming things down for years, so there likely won't be any furloughs (we are already operating at only 70ish % of where we are supposed to be). I heard FBI is expecting minor furloughs and at least one pary of DOD is expecting major furloughs (1 day a week). Honestly, I think DOD will be the worst hit. Many federal agencies have been under a budget crunch for years now. DOD has not and they have a lot of fat to trim.

+1 my agency has never had a furlough and stayed open back in '96 when the rest of the govt shut down for a week.

Which agency?

Not the PP, but I was at Energy in 96, and we were open during that shutdown...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about DOJ? Its my understanding that furloughs will be necessary but I'm not sure we've heard about how long and whether it's every component.

FBI is definitely doing furloughs if sequestration happens. Not so clear with the other DOJ components. Our office has been planning and underspending for a long time but have heard that we may be expected to help others that aren't in such good shape.

Agents, support or both? Field and HQ?

All of the above.

[Anonymous]

My agency is not giving any indication of what will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will I get to select the day of the week I don't work? Does seniority count?

For those of you so eager to take those extra days off, that just shows that you are working in offices that are overstaffed.

I bet you could cut several people and not even notice a dent in the workload, if you are showing an attitude like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will I get to select the day of the week I don't work? Does seniority count?

For those of you so eager to take those extra days off, that just shows that you are working in offices that are overstaffed.

I bet you could cut several people and not even notice a dent in the workload, if you are showing an attitude like that.

Or we are b exhausted and are guilted when we want to take leave. Under furlough it is illegal for us to work. Blackberries off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that the furlough will impact people regardless of productivity.

The most productive thing for the government would be if every manager with lets say 50 employees or more would be told that they have to fire one person, and the decision on who to fire would be completely and totally exempt from civil service rules or procedures.

I promise you that they would jump at the chance to get rid of the one turkey in every office, and even with one less employee productivity would go up and cost would go down. But that will never happen.

And then any savings would be immediately eaten up by the legal fees. And then the deadweight would be "reassigned" to a six figure job doing absolutely nothing.

[Anonymous]

OPM's guidance document is here:

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/furlough-guidance/guidance-for-administrative-furloughs.pdf