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Maxwell talks to civilian Marines about possible furloughs at MCBQ

26 Feb 2013 | Mike DiCicco Marine Corps Base Quantico

Col. David Maxwell, Marine Corps Base Quantico commander, held the first of two town hall meetings in Little Hall on Feb. 26 to talk to the base’s civilian employees about the impact of sequestration and the consequent possibility of furlough.

According to USA.gov, sequestration is a process that automatically cuts the federal budget across most departments and agencies. Congress included the trigger of sequestration in the Budget Control Act of 2011 as a way to encourage compromise on deficit reduction efforts. Congress couldn’t agree on a budget by the deadline set in the Budget Control Act, so mandatory budget cuts were scheduled to go into effect on January 2. Congress stopped the cuts from happening by passing the American Taxpayer Relief Act on January 2. This law pushed the budget cuts back until March 1.

If Congress cannot agree on a budget to reduce the deficit by Friday, then sequestration will take effect, and the possibility of furlough of civilian Marines could take effect sometime in April.

 “Obviously, there’s a lot of uncertainty about what is happening and what’s going to happen,” Maxwell told the audience. Central to Maxwell’s town hall brief was the presentation of “what we know and what we don’t know about the sequestration,” he said.

Whether the cuts occur depends on whether Congress and the president reach a budget agreement Friday.

What is certain is that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week that if the sequestration goes into effect, one way the Department of Defense will deal with the budget cut for the remainder of the fiscal year is by furloughing civilian employees for up to 22 nonconsecutive days. This essentially means civilians would work 16 hours less per pay period. The result of this furlough schedule on the employee would be a 20 percent pay cut across a 22-week period.

When reductions are necessary due to downsizing, reduced funding, lack of work, or any other budget situation other than a lapse of appropriations, employees are placed on administrative furlough. This type of furlough places employees in a non-duty, non-pay status when the activity intends to recall the employee to the position within one year.  When a furlough is planned, employees are officially notified 30-60 days in advance.

If sequestration becomes unavoidable, furloughs will probably begin in late April, Maxwell said. He added that employees whose salaries are paid with non-appropriated funds may not be directly impacted by furlough, but that those details remain forthcoming. 

 Maxwell emphasized that he hopes to leave the scheduling of an employee’s furlough day up to supervisors at the lowest level possible; to let units handle the timing of employee absences against operational commitments. However, he said the decision on that process, like many other factors related to the impact of sequestration, is yet to be determined.

“We’re going to be looking at how we do this as fairly as we can, as equitably as we can, so we make the best of a difficult situation,” Maxwell said. For the most part, he said, about 20 percent of the civilian workforce supporting Marine Corps Base Quantico would be furloughed on any given day during a regular work week.

Managers would not be allowed to offset the effects of furloughs with contract money, overtime or increased work hours for active duty personnel. He urged supervisors to begin planning for reduced hours now, Maxwell said citing Navy guidance.

He also encouraged supervisors to talk to their employees and figure out how to help them get the support they may need if furlough creates a hardship on them or their families.

 “Our challenge is to figure out how we continue to make mission in an environment affected by sequestration and furlough,” Maxwell said.

 “We all need to work together to try and get through this,” Maxwell concluded. “Cooperation, understanding and mutual respect, and probably a little bit of patience, is what’s going to get us through.”

Maxwell will host another town hall meeting on sequestration and furloughs Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. in Little Hall.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


Marine Corps Base Quantico