Florida Keys to furlough between 30 and 100 county employees due to coronavirus
Monroe County is furloughing up to 100 employees in the Florida Keys as a result of the economic crisis brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic, officials said Tuesday afternoon.
Between 30 and 100 people will either be partially furloughed or completely laid off for at least 16 weeks, Roman Gastesi, county administrator, said during a press conference.
“I’ll be surprised if it was under 30 or much more than 100,” Gastesi said.
The move is expected to save between $500,000 and $1.7 million, depending on how many people end up on the list, Gastesi said. The total number of affected employees is expected to be finalized later this week.
“We don’t know how many employees will be in each category,” Gastesi said.
The county has 565 full- and part-time employees and several other temporary positions, said Brian Cook, Monroe’s human resources director.
Monroe County last month shut down the Keys to all tourists, ordered all hotels to be shuttered and prohibited restaurants from serving any customers other than those ordering takeout or delivery. Gastesi said the county’s $173-million operating budget will take a massive hit from the policies.
“We are not immune to the effects of the economy, we must rein in spending via prompt action to reduce costs,” Gastesi said in a letter to county staff.
Other county workers not furloughed will be placed in two additional categories — work from home, and “work required to be away from home.”
Workers in the former category will receive their regular pay. Those required to be in the field will be compensated one and a half times their pay for the time required to work away from their homes, according to a county fact sheet.
Those completely furloughed will not be paid and have no administrative leave, according to the fact sheet. They may use “any form” of their earned sick, vacation or comp leave to receive pay, however.
“Employees may apply for unemployment benefits, which may be available to them,” the fact sheet reads.
Partially furloughed employees will be paid for the work they perform at their regular hourly rate. No administrative leave will be applied to “make their pay whole for unworked time,” according to the fact sheet.
They may be eligible for partial unemployment benefits.
Gastesi said the move, which still needs a vote by the Board of County Commissioners, which is scheduled to meet next Wednesday, is temporary for now.
“We’re not talking about eliminating positions yet,” he said.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Florida Keys to furlough between 30 and 100 county employees due to coronavirus."
