1,750 New York National Guard Employees Begin Taking Unpaid Days Off This Week

LATHAM, NY (07/09/2013)(readMedia)-- More than 1,750 New York National Guard technicians-- civilian Department of Defense employees who work for the Guard--have begun staying home one day a week without pay as part of the Department of Defense contribution to Congressionally mandated budget cuts.

The technicians began unpaid furloughs July 8.

Technicians are civilian employees of the National Guard who are required to serve as Guard members and wear their uniforms as part of their daily work routine. Many of these civilian employees perform critical functions such as maintenance, intelligence, logistics, contracting and administration.

For the New York National Guard, each technician will be furloughed one day each week for a cumulative contribution of 11 work days through the end of September, the fiscal year.

The furloughs are part of the Budget Control Act, known as the sequester and translate into a 20 percent reduction in salary for the federal technicians employed with the New York National Guard. The expected financial savings for the Department of Defense for these furlough days is $4.5 million.

There are approximately 4,500 full time federal and state employees assigned to support the administration of New York State Military Forces, including the New York Army and Air National Guard, New York Naval Militia and New York Guard, with a total combined authorized strength of more than 22,000 uniformed members.

More than a quarter of the federal technicians affected live and work in the Capital Region with some 490 technicians receiving furloughs there. The second largest contingent is in Central New York, including maintenance facilities at Fort Drum, N.Y., with more than 440 technicians.

Elsewhere in New York State, there will be approximately 340 furloughs in New York City and Long Island, 280 in the Hudson Valley and more than 210 in Western New York.

The New York National Guard implements furloughs at the individual technician level, meaning that all aspects and work locations across the force will remain fully operational, but scheduled with a reduction in staffing to reflect the one-day furlough each week per federal employee.

The goal is for National Guard units to maintain their productivity, even if actual production of work is reduced due to staffing limitations. The largest element of that work will be deferred or reduced availability of aircraft, vehicle or equipment maintenance.

National Guard members can still be called to duty to respond to state emergencies or disasters at the direction of the governor.

Nationwide, the National Guard expects to furlough 57,500 federal technicians and federal employees supporting the 54 states and territories.

The Department of Defense expects that some 650,000 total federal employees of the agency will receive furloughs for the same 11 days, achieving a budget reduction savings of nearly $2 billion.