Civilians see impacts on paychecks, leave hours following recall

  • Published
  • By Benjamin Newell
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --  Some excepted civilians who worked during the Oct. 1-5 furlough may not be paid this week for those hours due to coding errors on their timesheets.

During furlough, the payment and accounting system defaults all civilian employees as unpaid, requiring action to move them into the excepted status. For less than five percent of Air Combat Command's excepted civilian employees, this did not happen. Those with errors on paychecks this pay period will be paid in full during the next pay period after they have properly recorded work and leave hours for the furlough period in the system and had the corrected time certified by their certifier.

"We've surveyed 50 to 100 civilians at every ACC base, and between two and four at each base had this error," said Col. Timothy Dunster, ACC Financial Management's financial operations division chief. "We're working closely with A1 [ACC's personnel section] to identify affected civilians at the headquarters and wing level and fix this issue. This is a shared problem-solving issue."

The partial government shutdown furloughed approximately 7,500 ACC civilians out of a total of approximately 10,000. Nearly every civilian has now been recalled following passage of the Pay our Military Act, or POMA.

According to releases from the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service, any civilian who has reached 80 total hours of unpaid status due to shutdown furloughs, administrative furloughs during sequestration or choosing leave without pay during the fiscal year will not accrue leave for that pay period. Civilians who reached ten unpaid status days during the furlough Oct. 1-5 will not accrue leave for that pay period.

Civilians who were furloughed during the shutdown will be repaid for their furlough days if there is legislation authorizing back pay from the beginning of the fiscal year accompanying any appropriations bill or continuing resolution. It is unlikely they will recoup any lost leave hours.

"Going forward, since nearly every civilian has been recalled, everyone will be receiving a normal paycheck," Dunster said. "There are no plans to have an extra pay period. Any furlough payments will be made as part of the normal pay cycle."