BOTH houses of the Legislature have adopted a Senate joint resolution requesting the Office of Personnel Management, the secretary of Finance, and the Civil Service Commission to work together and assess and process merit increases for civil service employees who were furloughed and later recalled.
S.J.R. 22-6, offered by Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero, was passed by the Senate on March 3, 2022 and the House on March 29, 2022.
On Tuesday, transmittal letters were sent by Senate Clerk Dolores S. Bermudes to the presiding officers of both houses, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, OPM Director Frances Torres-Salas, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig, and Civil Service Commission Chair Jake U. Maratita.
On Jan. 29, 2020, Governor Torres issued Directive 2020-1, suspending inbound flights from mainland China due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and instructing Secretary Atalig and the Office of Management and Budget to undertake a cost-impact analysis and recommend adjustments to the government’s fiscal year 2020 budget.
Beginning March 15, 2020, the administration implemented a 64-hour work schedule and cost-containment measures based on Secretary Atalig’s advice to reduce the annual revenue estimate for FY 2020 by 20.7% and the budgetary resources by 28.3% for the remainder of the fiscal year.
In April 2020, Governor Torres said due to the steep drop in government revenue caused by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CNMI government had to cut personnel costs by 50%.
After the CNMI’s FY 2020 budget was reduced by 48% as a result of the shutdown of the tourism industry, the government implemented furloughs of civil service employees and termination for excepted service employees.
About 516 government employees in total were furloughed, roughly 269 of whom consisted of civil service employees.
Through the infusion of federal funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, and other federal grants, about 89 civil service employees from the furlough list were transferred to federally funded positions and other positions important to the Covid-19 response operations.
With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, or ARPA, the CNMI received much-needed relief, most notably through stimulus check payments, funding for Commonwealth government operations, and additional funding for unemployment assistance.
The CNMI was able to secure funding to cancel the Reduction-in-Force, or RIF, recall the furloughed employees, and return to a full 80-hour work week beginning March 28, 2021.
But the civil service employees who were furloughed as a result of the negative economic impact of Covid-19 and the reduction of the FY 2020 budget did not receive their merit increases.
