Projo Politics Blog

Christmas brought a brief reprieve for those in state government facing layoffs.

Had the next action date on the Carcieri administration’s layoff calendar not been lifted, letters would potentially have gone out on Dec. 24 informing dozens of employees that they were being “bumped” out of their jobs by more-senior state workers facing layoff.

On Friday, the state personnel administrator, Bucci, said several factors played into the decision to delay to Wednesday the next steps in the complicated layoff process, which allows eligible employees to bump less-senior workers, and those displaced workers to bump others at the same or lower pay levels.

Bucci said it seemed evident the administration wouldn’t be able to “interface” with all of the necessary people on the Monday before Christmas. Beyond that, “I think it was a matter of not wanting to contribute to people’s lack of a position with state government during that particular week.”

At last report from the governor’s office, 154 layoff notices had gone out.

The governor’s vow to eliminate 1,000 state jobs includes the potential layoff of 330 more state workers. It also hinges on leaving open the jobs of 487 employees who are expected to leave on their own by July 1, and dropping 168 “contract employees” who may or may not have contracts to work beyond July 1. The House Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing this week on how much progress Governor Carcieri has made in trimming the employee rolls.

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