Faced with a potentially multi-billion dollar impact on the state budget in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced temporary lay offs of some 2,900 state government workers. That move, which furloughs workers for at least 10 days, is expected to save at least $5-million.
Workers impacted by the furloughs were dispatched emails early this morning ahead of the Governor’s press conference this afternoon. While they will not be paid for that time they are off the clock, they will maintain access to health insurance and other benefits. Additionally, they were all automatically signed up for unemployment insurance, even as thousands across the state are struggling with collapsing infrastructure, long phone call queues, and crashing websites.
Even though departments all across state government are hit with the layoffs, it’s actually only about 6-percent of the state’s workforce of more than 48,000 employees. The state is expected to reassess whether additional time off or additional workers are added into the order as time marches on.
The Governor called it a tough decision, but also termed it as the right think to do to ensure continued critical service to the people of Michigan.
In a separate announcement, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that her State Department is laying off 900 staff members. She reports that the 900 layoffs of staff will start on Sunday, April 26th, and in her department’s case the layoffs will last two weeks, and could be extended.
Benson says, “This is an extremely challenging time for our state, our state government, and our department,” and adds, “This decision was not easy, but is necessary to responsibly steward taxpayer funds at this time.”
The Department is laying off all staff who are not able work full-time under the Stay Home, Stay Safe order. The majority of them are staff who typically work in Secretary of State branch offices, which are currently closed. All laid off employees, like all state employees who will be laid off at this time, will be automatically enrolled in the state’s unemployment system.
The layoffs will not impact MDOS services available to the public. Many driver and vehicle transactions can be carried out online and at self-service stations located in grocery stores across the state. A list of online services and stations is at Michigan.gov/SOS. Additionally, the Bureau of Elections remains open, as elections are considered a critical infrastructure sector in the Stay Home, Stay Safe order per the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Gov. Whitmer promised that in her Friday afternoon press conference this week, she will begin to address a phased approach to give consideration for re-opening parts of the economy, but also suggested that there will likely be at least a short term extension of the Stay Home shelter in place order at that time. Stay tuned.
