Some teachers yet to be paid for taking furlough Fridays last spring

Posted October 2020

By Isabelle Donahue

Staff Editor

Several licensed teachers who voluntarily chose to furlough on Fridays last spring through the Oregon Employment Department's Work Share program have still not received payment, an average of $612.

During distance learning last spring, several teachers were eligible by the Oregon Employment Department (OED) to furlough on Fridays. The requirements were that the employee had to be employed continuously by DDSD full-time for the past six months or part-time for the past 12 months, could not be a limited-term employee or a substitute employee, had to be available to work reduced hours in the week of the Work Share program, and could not have recently exhausted employment benefits.

DDSD had no authority to decide if an employee was eligible for unemployment benefits, and had to follow OED guidelines. The K-12 licensed teachers participated in four furlough Fridays: May 22 and 29, and June 5 and 12. Some of the Multnomah Early Childhood Program (MECP) staff participated in six furlough Fridays due to some of them working during the summer. Any staff member who was eligible for retirement within the next three years had the option of opting out of the Work Share program. Participating in the furlough Fridays could affect their retirement calculations.

Currently, there are 54 licensed staff who are still experiencing issues with the Work Share program in receiving payment. Work Share is an Oregon unemployment benefits program that offered an alternate option to terminating certain employees by instead reducing all employee work hours. To compensate for lost wages, the eligible staff received a portion of their regular unemployment insurance benefits. DDSD participated in the Work Share program by reducing employee work hours and pay by 20%-40% based on the work calendar. Under the Work Share program, employee health benefits were not reduced. Staff members were not allowed to participate in any school-related activities during the time outside their reduced schedule, or during the four furloughed Fridays.

Most of the licensed staff have received payment, except for one week. There are multiple factors as to why the process has taken so long. The main one was that the COVID-19 pandemic caused the OED to receive an overflow of unemployment applications. Another issue was the initial eligibility applications themselves, such as the applications filled out incorrectly or the OED incorrectly processing information for some DDSD staff. The OED has been working to change their system so teachers will receive payment for the first furlough Friday. The DDSD staff members were informed that they would be paid in November.