Different government agencies received Fitial’s Directive 272.
Some agencies with critical functions like the Department of Public Health, the Department of Public Safety, juvenile detention and federally funded programs were spared from the RIF, which will cut the workload of government employees from 80 to 64 hours.
Fitial, who promised “Better Times,” admitted that the “economic situation of the commonwealth has not improved and I find that it is now necessary to expand the reduction-in-force steps that have been taken so far. To remain within the budget for this upcoming fiscal year, the work hours of overtime eligible employees and the salaries of overtime exempt employees, to include gubernatorial appointees, excepted service and civil service employees must be reduced by 16 hours per two-week pay period,” he said in his memo.
Notifications will be sent out through Aug. 31 and will take effect 30 days later.
“Additionally, it will be necessary to close certain functions that cannot, at this time, be considered essential and abolish redundant or non-essential positions. There are certain essential services that must be maintained and certain critical positions that must be exempted from RIF actions,” the governor said.
He said he expects all department heads, including the mayors, the heads of autonomous government agencies, the legislative and Judicial branches, to implement the RIF.
He said all hiring should stop unless it involves necessary positions such as police officers, firefighters, corrections officers, juvenile corrections officers and assistant attorneys general and those in the medical sector and federally budgeted programs.
“Other vacancies that might affect government services shall be filled through internal transfers based upon priority of need, to be determined by the director of personnel,” he said.
The heads of different agencies were told to evaluate their staff to determine who gets to stay.
“As I have previously stated, and as each of you already know, the RIF will not be easy or pleasant to implement.
Ongoing and straight-forward communication with your employees is extremely important. Make sure that they are aware that you know that this will be difficult for each of them and that the government will do everything it can to minimize the impact,” the governor said.
