Some DHS employees could face furloughs even as agency reopens – By Jessie Bur (Federal Times) / June 17 2020
As the Department of Homeland Security begins enacting plans to reopen offices and bring employees back to work, some employees could face losing their jobs at the agency, due to funding challenges that have resulted resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to federal employee union leaders that testified at a June 16 hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee, a decline in user fees for agencies that deal with the flow of people and goods in and out of the country means that the salaries for some employees may not be covered.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Customs and Border Protection are both facing shortfalls in their user fee revenue, which comes from payments that the agencies charge for goods entering and leaving the country and for immigration applications and petitions.
User fees currently account for approximately 40 percent of the CBP Office of Field Operations Budget and a third of the CBP workforce at the ports of entry, according to National Treasury Employees Union National President Tony Reardon.
Continue to article: https://www.federaltimes.com/management/hr/2020/06/16/some-dhs-employees-could-face-furloughs-even-as-agency-reopens/
