Chairman
Linda A. Cropp at the request of the Mayor
A PROPOSED RESOLUTION IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
To declare the existence of an emergency with
respect to the need to amend the District of Columbia Government Comprehensive Merit
Personnel Act of 1978 to authorize the Mayor to establish early out and easy out
retirement incentive programs during the remainder of fiscal year 2000.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the "Retirement Incentive Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2000".
Sec. 2. (a) There exists an immediate crisis
regarding the need to reduce the number of positions within the District government by
approximately 1,000 by the end of the current fiscal year.
(b) Although reductions in force are available
to assist in this effort, there are numerous disadvantages associated with them, such as
potential adverse impact on recently hired employees who lack the protection afforded by
tenure in a reduction in force.
(c) Reductions in force are also expensive to
administer, require payment of severance pay (which can often be higher than the maximum
allowed under a retirement incentive program), result in appeals (often prolonged and
expensive), and require reemployment priority programs and placement assistance for
employees separated.
(d) Retirement incentive programs are able to
avoid the disadvantages of conducting reductions in force, and achieve the desired results
desired by management in a manner that is positive and has the support of employees, which
is generally not the case with reductions in force.
(e) Since reductions in force require advance
notice to employees followed by lengthy periods of severance pay, savings during a given
fiscal year can only be achieved by conducting the reductions in force early in the fiscal
year, thus minimizing the usefulness of reductions in force for the remainder of the
current fiscal year.
(f) Unless action is taken immediately to
authorize retirement incentive programs for the remainder of fiscal year 2000, the orderly
reduction in the size of the District government’s workforce will be seriously
jeopardized, thereby threatening cost overruns in FY 2001
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of
Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency
circumstances making it necessary that the "Retirement Incentive Emergency Act of
2000" be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. The Council shall transmit a copy of
this resolution, upon its adoption, to the Mayor and the Chief Financial Officer.
Sec. 5. This resolution shall take effect
immediately.