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Friday, Feb. 13, 2009

Furloughs expanding for DFCS workers

More employees at the state Department of Family and Children Services will face once-a-month furloughs starting in March under a plan that still needs approval from the board of the Department of Human Resources.

About 70 additional people, including entry-level caseworkers, would be furloughed in Macon, said Cheryl Williams, who works in administrative services at the Bibb County DFCS office.

Administrators and managers who are paid more than about $37,000 a year started furloughs two days a month at the end of September 2008. Some caseworker associates and others in a slightly lower pay grade started once-a-month furloughs in November, Williams said.

The latest expansion of the furloughs, which were announced internally Wednesday, will extend to employees whose starting pay begins at $2,000 a month including benefits, she said.

“One day a month is a lot when you’re paid so little,” said Marjorie Almand, director of the Bibb County DFCS office. “I imagine some of the people who work for welfare (programs) are going to be on welfare.”

The furloughs will affect caseworkers who handle food stamps, Medicaid, child protective services, foster care and other programs that serve an ever-growing population of the poor and unemployed. Almand said participation in the food stamp program alone has increased by about 22 percent. Those who handle food stamp and Medicaid eligibility already are handling caseloads “in the 500 level,” she said.

Almand said child protective services has seen an increase in reports of abuse, and the reports are more serious. “A lot are drug-related,” she said. “And we’re having serious levels of child sexual abuse.”

But Almand insisted that the quality of child protective services will not suffer as a result of the furloughs. She said B.J. Walker, commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, demands performance from employees, and that won’t change.

The furloughs are being proposed to last through June, Williams said.

Information from The Telegraph’s archives was included in this report. To contact writer S. Heather Duncan, call 744-4225.