Township Employees Face Bi-Weekly Furlough Days

To lessen the township's budget expenses, starting Aug. 23, most non-uniformed secretarial and administrative employees will be asked to take a leave of absence one day every two weeks. 

Municipal offices and the court will be closed during furlough days, Karen Durana said, executive secretary to the administrator. However the leaves of absence will only be in effect until the next tax due date, Nov. 1.

 The township is trying to minimize the effect on workers by scheduling only one furlough day every two weeks, she added.

"We're trying to make it as painless as possible for employees, that way only one day per pay period is missing from their paycheck," she said.

Township department heads were notified today of the exact dates workers will be asked to stay out of the office. Most municipal employees will be furloughed seven days; every other Monday starting Aug. 23. That includes administrative and secretarial employees who work at the police and fire departments. Court employees will also be out of the office starting Aug. 23 every other Friday for seven days.

Department of Public Works administrative employees  will have only one furlough day; Sept. 7.

Ruthanne Della Serra, a part-time zoning office administrator and a negotiator for a branch of the Teamsters, spoke out against the lack of information surrounding the furloughs at the last public township committee meeting.

"After the last meeting, we all knew this was coming, we just did not know what their proposal was, they're still involuntary, it's going to cause an impact to the community at large," Della Serra said in a phone interview today. "At this point there's nothing we can do... we just hope it doesn't cause a huge inconvenience to residents in the community."

As the heat continues to rise during this record-setting summer, the township has spared pool administrative employees from layoffs until the season is over. Their furlough period will begin Sept. 20.

"It is being delayed until after the swimming pool closes," Durana said.