The state of Washington has sent email alerts to 26,000 state employees notifying them of temporary layoff.
The notifications went out Tuesday because union contracts require seven-day notice of a possible layoff. July 1 is the day state government will partially shut down if there’s no budget.
The emergency notices tell state employees to stay home and not do any work.
This is déjà vu for Washington state workers. Similar notices went out two years ago when lawmakers couldn’t find agreement on a budget. But that ended up being a fire drill. A budget deal was reached on June 27 and the governor signed the budget on June 30, averting a shutdown.
Fewer than half the state’s 60,000 general government employees face layoff. That’s because many functions of state government are mandated by law, the constitution or contract to continue even in the event of a shutdown.
Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network
