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Personnel reductions imminent

  • Published
  • By Kirsten Tacker
  • Kukini Photojournalist
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii --  This month civilian workers will receive letters, notifying them if they are going to be affected by the Jan. 6 civilian reduction in force. 

Currently the Air Force Personnel Center is conducting the RIF that cancelled 14 occupied positions. 

Every effort is being made to identify pre-RIF reassignments to minimize the impact
on employees. 

"What we are trying to do is find vacancies and reassign the affected employees," said Ms. Kuniyoshi. "We want to avoid the RIF and minimize the number of letters that have to be delivered this month." 

There are basic factors of what qualifies an employee with higher retention standing. 

"Tenure and veterans preference are the first two factors in retention standing." said Ms.
Kuniyoshi. "The tenure of the employee is whether they are career or career conditional."
Employees receive 60 days advance notice of the RIF by law and during those 60 days
they are registered into the Department of Defense priority placement program. 

"By registering into the program they will be eligible for mandatory placement into vacancies on the island of Oahu for all DOD activities," said Ms. Kuniyoshi. "They
could choose to register for some locations in the continental U.S., primarily the western states and the Pacific theatre."

There are opportunities in the DOD PPP for the affected employees and they receive
priority replacement to those different jobs. 

There are a few more ways to place the employees prior to enrolling in the DOD PPP,
which generate vacancies for those being displaced. 

"The whole goal is to minimize the disruption to the workforce," said Ms. Kuniyoshi. "We want to minimize loss of pay or anything that would adversely effect the employees." 

The worst-case scenario is if an employee becomes separated because of this RIF.
Measures are being utilized to avoid complete separation, but if they are separated the government will provide 18 months of continued health benefits coverage. 

"I don't think this RIF is going to be wide spread," said Ms. Kuniyoshi. "We are talking
primarily to those occupations that are in our regional supply center." 

Ms. Kuniyoshi is assured that management and senior leadership are doing everything
to minimize impact of this RIF. 

"In the event that we have to take some actions on people to reduce their grade or separate, there are programs already in place that will help them retain their pay and continue to meet their financial obligations," concluded Ms. Kuniyoshi. 

Call Civilian Personnel at 449-0122 for more information on personnel reductions.