Civilian furloughs at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to end early
Aug 6, 2013, 1:01 PM | Updated: 1:18 pm
Civilian furloughs at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will end early. The Pentagon said it found sufficient savings to end the furlough program. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
Good news for thousands of civilian employees who’ve been forced to take unpaid days off at Joint Base Lewis-McChord: the budget cutting program is ending early.
“We’re hearing from the Department of Defense today that the furloughs of our civilian employees have been reduced from 11 days to six days,” said base public affairs spokesman Joe Piek.
The one-day-a-week furloughs, which started in July, should end later this month. The furloughs are in their fifth week. The mandatory time-off affected 650,000 civilian workers across the country.
The civilian employees number between 8,000-10,000 workers at JBLM. They work in the hospital, fire stations and waste water treatment plant, among other areas, according to Piek.
The Pentagon said it found sufficient savings to end the furlough program early. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved the final numbers this week, according to the Associated Press.
