Furlough fiasco

We had a feeling those “Furlough Fridays” for state workers would devolve into a fiasco.

It looks as though our skepticism was well-founded.

The idea, promoted by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, was that the state could save $40.8 million over two years by requiring 26,500 state employees to take 10 days off, without pay.

But rather that mimicking private businesses, most of which require employees to treat furlough days as unpaid holidays that must be scheduled in advance, the state mandated that most affected workers stay home on pre-determined Fridays.

As a result, many state offices, including DMVs, have been closed on the three “Furlough Fridays” since the program started last October.

They’ve also cost us money.

The Oregonian newspaper reported that state workers accrued about 16,200 more overtime hours during the final three months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. The cost: $3.4 million

We concede that some of the extra overtime was justified.

Prisons, for instance, must have a minimum number of employees on duty, so adding furlough days, whenever they’re used, inevitably increases overtime.

Yet the figures compiled by The Oregonian suggest that state agencies either failed to plan ahead for furlough days — which is inexcusable, since the schedule was set in advance — or that some workers are trying to offset their lost pay by padding their overtime tab.

Curiously, ODOT, whose manager warned employees in an e-mail just before the first furlough day to not take advantage of the situation, reported a decline in overtime compared with 2008.

If Oregon can’t curb its recently whetted appetite for overtime, then the governor should do away with “Furlough Fridays” and require workers to schedule the days just as they do vacation. Getting less work for the same amount of money is not acceptable.