Updated 7/6/27 at 1:51 p.m.
New Jersey’s state shutdown lasted for three full days, Save Jerseyans, meaning that most state workers missed one day of work (at most) heading into the July 4th holiday.
But guess what?
According to our sources on the governmental inside (and they’re everywhere, so good luck hiding from us), some departments/agencies are advising their state employees to seek UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS (!!!) for time lost during the shutdown.
Here’s one example shared by a Save Jersey reader:
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Employers were then prompted to apply online using a provided link.
Moody’s recently predicted that New Jersey “could be careening toward a $3.6 billion operating deficit by 2023” due in large part to public employee pension and benefits legacy costs.
Governor Christie had previously declared that public employees would NOT receive back pay for furlough days.
“Don’t count on it,” Christie said at a Friday presser mere hours before the budget deadline. “That was Jon ‘I’ll fight for a good contract for you’ Corzine. I ain’t him.”
We also have unconfirmed reports of public employees being denied the right to use vacation days in lieu of being docked a work day. Here’s what Department of Labor employees were told:
Accordingly, any employee that did NOT work on Monday, July 3, will code the day to the FURLOUGH job number, LWOP activity code, and SHUT sub activity code as shown below. Employees who DID work on Monday, July 3, will code their normal working job number(s) for the time worked; if they did not work the entire day, the balance should be coded to the FURLOUGH job number as mentioned above (and shown below).
[…]
All employees who are otherwise eligible will be paid for the July 4th holiday. Employees should code Tuesday July 4, 2017 to the HOLIDAY job number like any normal holiday.
Note: Employees are NOT PERMITTED to code benefit time on Monday, July 3; this includes SICK, VACATION, and ADMIN job numbers.
Managers and supervisors should verify that the timesheets are coded properly before approving them.
Go ahead and file this gem under “reasons why we’re broke,” folks.
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