Coast Guard Adm. Charles W. Ray, vice commandant, posted a letter updating the post-shutdown situation and the pay schedule for the civilian and active duty and reserve workforce.
Also, Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz released an email thanking the men and women of the Coast Guard for their hard work and dedication during the lapse in appropriations. Schultz wrote that "we enthusiastically welcome back our greatly missed furloughed civilian employees, allowing us to reconstitute our total workforce and set a path to restore a fully ready, relevant and responsive Coast Guard in the weeks and months ahead."
The text of Adm. Ray's letter is below:
To the men and women of the United States Coast Guard,
The commandant and I are acutely aware of the challenges you and your families experienced over the past five weeks and are anxious to reconstitute our total mission ready workforce so we can heal and move forward. We recognize that missing pay checks and the overall uncertainty during the lapse in appropriations resulted in hardship and concern for our military and civilian workforce. It is our top priority to ensure that all pay is available as soon as possible.
Civilians: in coordination with the National Finance Center, our goal is to pay the civilian workforce in a single lump sum for pay period 26 (Dec. 23 – Jan 5) and pay period 1 (Jan. 6 – Jan. 19) by Thursday, Jan. 31 (note: deductions will be taken out by pay period, but only one LES will be provided). The CG-12 staff is working through the weekend to ensure that timecards are completed and that full-time employees will be paid for 80 hours (or normal schedule for part-time employees) for each pay period. Employees and supervisors are asked to not validate and certify timecards to avoid jeopardizing the receipt of timely pay. In our effort to pay the workforce as soon as possible, we are not following our typical process. As a result, we recognize there is potential that timecards will need to be corrected. CG-12 will issue guidance to supervisors and employees regarding review and correction of timecards for any previous pay periods to include pay period 26 and pay period 1 by Friday, Feb. 1.
Active duty and reserve: the Coast Guard Pay and Personnel Center is working through the weekend as well and has secured after hours support with the U.S. Treasury office to process pay as quickly as possible. Once the Treasury transmits funds to the private banking system, the hours and policies of each individual bank will dictate when you will see your pay. We expect that members should see their mid-month pay as early as Tuesday, but no later than Wednesday, Jan. 30. Pay for Jan. 31 is expected to be processed on time.
Military retirees: the Coast Guard expects to pay military retirees and survivor benefit plan annuitants on schedule for Jan. 31.
Please continue to refer to www.dcms.uscg.mil/budget for FAQs related to pay and benefits, and utilize the call center and e-mail resources to ask questions.
I continue to be amazed and inspired by your dedicated service. We are truly strongest when we have our entire total mission ready workforce together, and I look forward to welcoming our furloughed civilians back on Monday.
Semper Paratus.
Adm. Charles W. Ray
Vice Commandant
