STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
General Circular No. 001625
To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors
Subject: Notice requirements for furlough or layoff of employees who have not contacted their agencies since Katrina
Issue Date: September 26, 2005
Please refer to General Circular 1624 issued September 23, 2005, for a discussion of options available to agencies for separation of employees who have not contacted their agencies since Hurricane Katrina. The circumstances of employees displaced by Katrina vary widely. However, if employees have not contacted their employers by now, it seems very reasonable to assume that such employees may never report back to work.
As we described in General Circular 1624, it is the opinion of this Department that a furlough followed by a layoff is the most appropriate method for separating these “missing” employees, and thus removing them from your payroll. Because this General Circular contains information about the notices required for furlough and layoff specifically of those employees who have not contacted their agencies, we will refer to these as Katrina Furloughs and Katrina Layoffs.
Proper notice is the key to successful furlough and layoff. Because a furlough is an action that has a limited term, the notice requirement is less stringent than with a layoff and therefore the furlough notice can be accomplished much faster.
KATRINA
FURLOUGH NOTICE REQUIREMENTS:
An agency desiring to furlough those employees who have not contacted the agency should:
The effective date of the furlough can be the date of the posting of the plan on the website. Agencies should use an effective date that is no earlier than October 1, 2005.
Further discussion of the posting requirements for furlough and layoff is contained below.
WEBSITE POSTING
These plans are public record. Although Civil Service Rule 17.8(a) requires a furlough plan to list the names of employees who will be excluded from the furlough, to do so would require the agency to post the names of many employees. We have concluded that the intent of this rule can be met by naming those employees who WILL be furloughed, since it could be reasonably assumed that everyone who is not listed is excluded from the furlough.
GENERAL
INFORMATION ABOUT FURLOUGH TO BE FOLLOWED BY LAYOFF
A furlough can be for either an initial maximum of 240 work hours (or six weeks for a full-time employee) with approval by the Director and a furlough can extend for up to a maximum of 450 work hours (or 11 weeks total for a full-time employee) with approval of the Civil Service Commission. The Commission’s next General Business meeting will be on November 2, 2005. If the agency chooses to follow the Katrina Furlough with a Katrina Layoff, we advise agencies to use the furlough period to prepare for and effect proper notice to employees of the layoff plan, which will include a period of time given to employees to comment. We recommend that agencies plan to give an extended comment period beyond the minimum required in the rules. This notice and opportunity to comment is very important.
NOTICE FOR THE KATRINA LAYOFF
PLEASE NOTE: The Katrina Layoff process will involve
exceptions granted solely because the employees’ whereabouts are unknown. If an employee contacts you during the
furlough period and makes his whereabouts known to you, he/she cannot be
included in the Katrina Layoff, but can be included in any other regular
measures you take.
An agency desiring to lay off those employees who have not contacted the agency by the time the layoff occurs should:
The process described above to effect notification of the layoff follows the basic furlough notice process with two major differences. In addition to being published on the agency website, the layoff plan must also be mailed to the last known addresses of the affected employees. This notice to the employees, both on the website and in the mailing, should advise the employee how to contact the agency and how to make comments to the Director of the Department of State Civil Service. Ample time should be given for presumed delivery of the mailing to the employee and also for the employee’s opportunity to comment. Mail is being forwarded by the Post Office at an individual’s request and the forwarding process takes a longer time than regular mail. A two week delivery time coupled with a following two week comment period should be adequate. Once these periods of time have run, the plan can be submitted to the Director for approval.
If you have questions or need to discuss any issues related to furlough or layoff, please contact your Assistance Coordinator at 225-342-8274, or send an e-mail to fran.williams@la.gov.
We are available to meet with you if needed to help you complete these notices and plans. Please let us know if we can help you in any way.
Sincerely,
s/Anne S. Soileau
Acting Director
General Notice of Furlough Measures
To:
Employees who have not contacted their agency since Hurricane Katrina
From: ____________________________, __________________________
Appointing Authority State Agency
Subject:
Furlough measures for employees who have not contacted this agency since
Hurricane Katrina
Date: ___________________________
In
accordance with the requirements of Civil Service Rule 17.4(a), notice is
hereby given of an impending furlough (a layoff avoidance measure consisting of
a period of leave without pay) to be implemented by our department for those
employees who have not contacted our agency since Hurricane Katrina. It seems reasonable to assume that such
employees may never report back to work.
A written plan to effect this furlough will be submitted to the
Department of State Civil Service for its approval.
Our agency is proposing to effect this furlough beginning
(starting date) until close of business on (ending date).
Once
the furlough plan has been approved by the Department of State Civil Service,
it will be made generally available to employees through…(name the means of
informing the employees of the plan - e.g., types of posting, such as website
posting, etc.).
Any questions concerning this matter
should be directed to person’s name and phone number and/or e-mail address at
our agency. We sincerely regret the
need for this action.
Layoff Avoidance Plan
Proposing Furlough Without Pay
For employees who have NOT contacted their agency since Hurricane Katrina
Ms. Anne Soileau, Acting Director
Department of State Civil Service
P. O. Box 94111
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9111
Dear
Ms. Soileau:
In accordance with Civil Service 17.8, the Department of ________________________ is requesting approval to implement a furlough without pay for its employees who have not contacted our agency since Hurricane Katrina. The reason for this request is that we assume these employees may never report back to work, and we therefore do not wish to continue paying their salaries. We request the furlough apply to (name the organizational unit), in the following geographic areas: (name them). We propose the furlough for all the employees listed in this plan begin on (date) and end at close of business on (date). This would equal _____ hours of furlough for all the affected employees.
Since we are not proposing the furlough of all of our employees, our agency asks for an exception to the regular layoff avoidance rules, as provided for by Civil Service Rule 17.5. We request that an exception to Rule 17.3 be approved, thus allowing our agency to furlough only those employees who have not contacted us since Hurricane Katrina. As a second part of this exception request, we propose to list the names of those who will be covered by this furlough measure, instead of those who will be excluded from it. The reason for this request is that this proposed list will be shorter than that of those who have contacted our agency since Hurricane Katrina.
In the event that any of the affected employees should contact our agency before the effective beginning date of the furlough, our agency will not include them in the furlough.
In
the event that an affected employee(s) should contact our agency during
the period of the furlough, our agency will place him or her on special leave,
annual leave, or direct the employee back to work, instead of furloughing him
or her. In this unprecedented type of
furlough, we cannot foresee the recall schedule from furlough for these employees,
since we do not know who may respond or when.
Those not responding will be furloughed the entire period of time stated
in this plan, and therefore, there will be no recall from furlough for
them. Since the normal recall
provisions stated in Civil Service Rule 17.8 are not applicable in this
furlough, we ask for an exception to any specific recall schedule, subject to
our planned actions stated above in this plan.
The employees and their job titles we are proposing for this furlough are as follows:
If you require additional information, please contact ______________ at (phone #) or at (e-mail address) at our agency. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Signature of Appointing Authority
General Notice of Impending Layoffs
To: Employees who have not contacted their agency since Hurricane Katrina
From: ____________________________, __________________________
Appointing Authority State Agency
Subject:
Layoffs for employees who have not contacted this agency since Hurricane
Katrina
Date: ___________________________
In
accordance with the requirements of Civil Service Rule 17.10(a)1, notice is
hereby given of impending layoffs to be implemented by our department for those
employees who have not contacted our agency since Hurricane Katrina. It seems reasonable to assume that such
employees may never report back to work.
A written plan to implement this layoff will be submitted to the
Department of State Civil Service for its approval.
Our agency is proposing to implement this layoff on ____(date)____, at the beginning of business for each affected employee.
Once
the layoff plan has been approved by the Department of State Civil Service, it
will be made generally available to employees through…(name the means of
informing the employees of the plan - e.g., types of posting, such as website
posting, etc.).
Any questions concerning this matter should be directed to person’s name and phone number and/or e-mail address at our agency. We sincerely regret the need for this action.
Civil
Service Rule 17.13 states:
The following shall be responsibilities of any employee affected in a layoff. This includes employees who are on leave, on detail to special duty, and on temporary interdepartmental assignment.
(a)
He shall read or otherwise make himself aware of agency-distributed information
concerning the layoff.
(b) He shall supply all information required by the agency to determine adjusted state service date in the format and by the deadline set by the agency.
(c) If he is absent from work, he shall leave with the personnel specified in his agency, correct and current information as required by the agency on how he may be reached at all times when his agency will be making job offers during the layoff.
(d) He shall comply with the deadline for responding to a job offer in a manner determined by the agency. Failure to do so in the proper manner and by the deadline shall be considered a declination of the job offer.
(e) If meeting the job qualifications of the offered job requires a grade from Civil Service, he must have had the grade effective no later than the date the layoff plan is submitted to Civil Service to be eligible for that position. The grade need not be active; it may be expired. However, it must have the same series number as the test currently in use and must be verifiable, either in the automated applicant record at Civil Service or by the employee producing the original grade notice.
(f) Once he gives his acceptance or declination of a job offer, his decision is final and the agency is not required to re-work any job offers already made.