County employees must take 32 hours unpaid time off, health department included

Whatcom County employees will be required to take unpaid time off within the next two months to reduce costs during the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.

County council passed a resolution on July 7 for unrepresented employees to take a salary reduction in the form of 32 hours of unpaid leave by September 12.

The furloughs come as a response to expected budget shortfalls and will apply to all unelected, non-union county employees, which include department heads, managers, supervisors, professionals, support staff, sheriff’s office management, court reporters, public health officers, and court commissioners, according to a resolution by the executive’s office.

Health department employees are also required to take time off amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. County workers who spend at least 80 percent of their time on Covid-19-related work will have until the end of the year to take their furlough time.

With 166 unrepresented employees taking the 32 hours of unpaid leave, the county expects to save $306,160, executive office community outreach facilitator Jed Holmes said in an email.

In a Whatcom County Council finances and administrative services committee meeting on July 7, councilmember Rud Browne told the council that in the 2008 recession, many business owners, including himself, took the same pay cuts as their employees. Browne said the council should consider doing the same.

“I just want to give the council notice that I intend to look for options for elected officials, should they choose to do so, to share the burden with the rest of the county staff,” Browne said.

The county would save approximately $27,000 if all 15 of its elected officials adhered to the same salary reduction, Holmes said in an email.

Browne said it may be more difficult than passing another resolution that would include the council members. Lindsay Matthews, executive assistant for the Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials, said Washington state legislature prevents elected officials from adjusting their salary.

Matthews said the commission is asking for the state legislature to reintroduce a law, for a two-year period, allowing for elected officials to implement their own temporary salary reduction. The earliest such a law could be adopted is January, when the state legislature is back in session, unless governor Jay Inslee calls for an emergency return to session before then, Matthews said.

Councilmember Kathy Kershner said councilmembers have the option to donate an amount of their salary to the county.

The county has also reached an agreement with the Teamsters Local 231 union that all employees under the master collective bargaining agreement contract will take the same salary reduction that the county is now placing on its unrepresented employees, Holmes said in an email. With 463 members, the union furlough agreement will save the county an approximate $576,000, according to Holmes.

So far, the salary reductions are expected to save the county more than $875,000. There are 201 county employees in other bargaining units that have yet to make furlough agreements with the county.