Furlough for National Guard workers ended

Thousands of New Yorkers who work for the National Guard — including 220 technicians at the 106th Air National Guard base at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton — no longer face a federally mandated six day furlough between now and Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

The furlough, mandated by the federal budget sequester, was ended for those workers earlier this week by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who shifted funds in the Department of Defense budget. His action was praised Thursday by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), who said it would “help families struggling to make ends meet.”

The more than 10,000 employees statewide who faced the loss of six days work were, like the workers at Gabreski, dual-status civilian employees. At Gabreski, the technicians are all members of the Air National Guard and wear uniforms while on duty but are classified as civilians. There are more than 1,500 other dual-status air guard technicians across New York.

Eleven furlough days were mandated in the current federal fiscal year by the sequester approved by Congress, and there were six days left to take before Sept. 30. If the full furlough were taken, it would have meant an $18 million cut in pay for the dual-status workers across the state.

Hagel announced the end of the furlough on Tuesday, saying the Department of Defense had identified savings in other areas that would allow the workers to stay on the job.

The House Appropriations Committee, based on information provided by the Department of Defense, said the $18 million pay cut would have meant an average loss of about $300 a day for each worker.

The full furloughs at Gabreski would have impacted technicians at all levels of experience: an entry-level technician at the GS-4 Pay Grade earning $31,560 annually would have lost $1,578 while a top supervisor at the GS-14 pay grade of $109,022 annually would have lost $5,451. That loss is now reduced by about half, federal officials said.