Defense Department Employees Have Furlough Days Reduced

Department of Defense employees will not have to take as many unpaid days off this year as they initially anticipated.

Sequestration earlier this year triggered automatic federal spending cuts and some agencies turned to furloughs as a way to balance the budget. The Department of Defense asked civilian employees to take 11 furlough days, but has now reduced it to six days.

About 700 Wisconsin National Guard employees are affected by the furloughs. This includes people from technicians at Volk Field to those who work in human resource offices.

Wisconsin National Guard spokesperson Major Paul Rickert says even with the reduced hours, guard members and equipment were ready if they were needed. But Rickert says they did have to prioritize duties differently.

“Having those furloughs reduced will have a great impact, not only on their ability to get their jobs done but also on a personal level from financial hardship,” says Rickert.

At Fort McCoy, about 1,500 employees have been working four-day weeks since July. Spokesperson Linda Fournier says this has resulted in $1.8 million in lost wages.

“This is our absolute busiest time,” says Fournier. “We have soldiers who look to us for their services and we weren’t able to provide those services because people were on furlough or they were short-staffed.”

The new federal fiscal year begins October 1. Fournier says they’re still not sure if furloughs will resume then.