FORT RILEY, Kan. – Fort Riley civilian employees began receiving notices of decision to furlough Thursday. These notices are required by federal law to inform employees they will be furloughed no sooner than 30 days from the date of the notice. A furlough work schedule accompanies the notice.
Furloughs will affect approximately 2,400 civilian workers across a broad spectrum of services at Fort Riley when the administrative furloughs begin in July.
“Beginning on or after July 14 and lasting until the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30), civilian employees will be furloughed for 11 non-consecutive days,” said Col. William Clark, garrison commander of Fort Riley. “As an installation we saw this potential coming and have spent a lot of time planning for this requirement.”
Furloughs will affect workers who are compensated with appropriated funds, or funds financed by annual or periodic appropriations from Congress. Each AF employee will be required to take the 11 non-consecutive days of furlough.
Non-appropriated fund employees, paid by funds generated from other sources and not appropriated by Congress, and contractors will not be furloughed.
“There are a variety of different commands that comprise Team Riley, and we’ve worked together to form a comprehensive plan,” said Clark.
Effects of the furloughs at Fort Riley will be predictable, and impacts will vary across the post.
“Our patrons and our community can expect a reduction of services to some degree, but with those services linked to life, health and safety, we have found a way to mitigate the furlough effects, to ensure we maintain our obligations to our patrons,” said Clark.
“The main thing to remember is that Fort Riley and our Army remains committed to taking care of our Soldiers, families, civilians and retirees throughout this time period,” Clark said.
The notice of decision to furlough is the next step, implementing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s May 14 announcement to proceed with federal furloughs to manage the budgetary shortfalls facing the military and the nation.
