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52 Washington County employees apply for voluntary furloughs

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By the Wednesday afternoon deadline, 52 Washington County employees asked to be considered for voluntary layoffs in response to an email circulated Monday.

The breakdown was 34 “direct” county employees, 13 who work for the courts and five who are employed by elected officeholders, according to Commission Chairman Diana Irey Vaughan.

The target was 50 employees, but the county’s offer noted that those who have expressed interest in taking a furlough will be evaluated case by case.

Although April 10 is a day county offices are closed in observance of Good Friday, the evaluation process may not be completed until then.

Individuals are to be notified no later than Friday for voluntary layoffs beginning Monday.

The county commissioners chose that course of action in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic and its financial impact on county government and taxpayers.

After the commissioners declared a disaster emergency last month, employees have worked remotely and rotated days away from their usual offices to maintain “social distancing” in close quarters in the interest of public health.

In a statement about voluntary layoffs Tuesday, Steve Catanese, president of Service Employees International Union 668, said, in part, “We understand that it’s a good faith effort to protect worker safety and jobs while ensuring the county can continue to serve the public throughout the duration of this crisis.”

Jobs that deal with human services, law enforcement, corrections, the Public Safety Department and 911 call center and probation officers supervising both juvenile and adult clients were exempt from voluntary furloughs.

“We’re so grateful to the union that they worked with us and stepped up to this challenge,” Irey Vaughan said. “At the end of this storm, it’s our hope that we’ll be able to bring everyone back. No one knows what life will look like at the end of COVID-19.”

The amount of money to be saved by the county and taxpayers is still being sorted out, she said, because funding sources can differ from one department to another.

Layoffs for Washington County employees is not unprecedented.

Irey Vaughan said when she and former Commissioner Bracken Burns began their first terms as commissioners in 1996 with incumbent Joe Ford, “the budget set prior to us taking office did not provide for enough resources to open the new jail and staff at the capacity recommended for direct-pod supervision in the facility that was built.” The new and old jails were based on different modes of corrections, she explained.

The 1996 board of commissioners reopened the budget and furloughed about 10 employees, she recalled.

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