STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
General Circular No. 001624
To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors
Subject: FURLOUGHS AND LAYOFFS RELATED TO KATRINA
Issue Date: September 22, 2005
USE OF SPECIAL LEAVE or ANNUAL LEAVE
Many (if not most) agencies have already granted special
leave to employees needing it through September 30, 2005.
Because of budgetary constraints, it may not be possible to
continue to extend special leave to large numbers of employees after that
date. An appointing authority may
continue to grant special leave to employees on a case-by-case, as needed
basis.
For employees who have made their whereabouts known,
agencies may also approve the use of annual leave or leave without pay for
employees for periods of absence beyond September 30, 2005.
HOW
TO STOP PAYING MISSING EMPLOYEES
Many agencies have still not located employees who evacuated
from parishes directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. These are employees who have not yet called the agency to report
their whereabouts and ability to return to work.
The evacuated employees have an obligation to attempt to
reach their employers within a reasonable period of time to make their
locations known and to make themselves available to be called back to work if
needed.
Obviously, the state cannot continue to pay employees on
“special leave” for an extended and indefinite period of time. For many agencies, the work needing to be
done still exists, even though the place where the work is being done may have
moved.
In trying to determine how you deal with employees who have
not contacted you, it might be helpful to remember that the original evacuation
process caused an involuntary displacement of employees to areas around the
country. However, at some point an
employee’s failure to contact the employer to report his whereabouts becomes a
voluntary decision of the employee.
While each appointing authority will need to evaluate their
own situation with regard to financial resources and work needing to be done,
we offer the following suggestions and options for your consideration in trying
to deal with “missing” employees.
FIRST
STEP: FURLOUGH WITHOUT PAY
We suggest that agencies deal first with those employees who
are “missing” and who have not called in to report their whereabouts and make themselves
available for assignment. It is
reasonable to assume that these employees are not interested in continued
employment.
We urge agencies to use, as a first step, a furlough without
pay for their group of “missing” employees, no earlier than October 1,
2005. A furlough is a layoff-avoidance
measure. Because the current situation
is unprecedented, we recommend that agencies consider using a furlough to delay
layoffs as well as a pre-layoff process to save money and to give their
employees extra time to call in and make their location and future plans
known. A separate General
Circular is being issued containing information on how to request this
furlough; a sample furlough plan is included with that General Circular.
Questions concerning benefits for employees while on furlough should be directed to the benefit providers.
Each H.R. Program Assistance Coordinator here at the
Department of State Civil Service has an outline of the plan we have put
together to accomplish this; appointing authorities wishing to use this option
may contact their Assistance Coordinator to set up a meeting to discuss this.
The Director can approve furlough plans up to 240 work hours
(this includes holidays that fall in the furlough period – for full-time
employees, this is 30 work days, or six 40-hour work weeks).
The Commission can approve a furlough beyond 240 work hours,
up to maximum of 450 work hours (this includes holidays that fall in the furlough
period – for full-time employees, this is 56.25 work days, or 11.25 work
weeks). The next Commission meeting
will be on November 2, 2005.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING
EMPLOYEES WHO CALL IN DURING THE FURLOUGH PERIOD - It is anticipated that
at least some (if not all) of these employees may call in once they realize
they were not paid on payday. Employees
who call in during the furlough period MAY be “recalled” and placed on
special leave or granted annual leave retroactive to the furlough effective date. There is no requirement to “recall” these
employees; but it is allowed if the agency wishes to do so.
SECOND
STEP: LAYOFF
For
those employees who have not called in to either make themselves available for
work or to voluntarily resign, a layoff may be required to remove them from
your agency. We suggest that the
layoff occur after an initial period of furlough; however, a layoff can take
place even if no furlough was done.
If
the agency believes it will be performing a layoff, plans should be made before
the end of the furlough period, so that the layoff can be effective immediately
following the furlough period.
Because
these layoffs will involve a number of exceptions, they will require Commission
approval, although the Director can grant interim approval prior to the
Commission meeting.
In
the layoff plan, the agency will need to be very clear about who is being laid
off and why. We expect that those being
laid off will be only those who have not called in and who cannot be located by
the agency. These will be budgetary
layoffs since the state cannot continue to pay employees “special leave” when
the employees have not made themselves available to be called to work. The plans should include the following
exception requests:
Each Assistance Coordinator is prepared to meet with
agencies to help agencies prepare these layoff plans.
LAST
RESORT FOR MISSING EMPLOYEES: REMOVAL
FOR CAUSE UNDER CHAPTER 12 RULES
Employees
who fail to call in after a reasonable period of time has elapsed have, in
effect, abandoned their jobs and could be removed for cause under Chapter
12.
However, since the original cause for the displacement of
employees to other areas of the state and country was not voluntary, we urge
agencies to use a for-cause removal based on job abandonment only as a last
resort.
EMPLOYEES
WHOSE WHEREABOUTS ARE KNOWN
LAYOFF
AVOIDANCE OR LAYOFF
After
the layoff avoidance / layoff actions involving “missing” employees have been
completed, agencies may still find they need to have a layoff avoidance measure
or a layoff of employees whose whereabouts are known.
To
reduce complications, we urge agencies to not mix furlough plans and layoff
plans involving “missing” employees with those for employees whose whereabouts
are known. Therefore, if the agency
needs a furlough and/or a layoff that is more extensive than a furlough/layoff
only of those employees who are “missing”, these actions should be conducted
separately from the layoff of missing employees.
Layoff actions involving employees whose whereabouts are known will not be granted the same exceptions to the displacement, Department preferred list and hiring freeze requirements of Rule 17.16 that may be granted during the layoff of “missing” employees.
If you have any questions about this General Circular, please contact your Assistance Coordinator at 225-342-8274 or Fran.Williams@la.gov.
Please let us know if there is any way that we can assist
you.
Sincerely,
s/Anne S. Soileau
Acting Director