Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995                   TAG: 9502240068
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WORKERS PONDER VA. BUYOUTS

Is the severance pay plan approved by the General Assembly last week going to become law?

And if so, when can they see it?

They want to decide whether they'll take the legislators' plan instead of Gov. George Allen's buyout package, which ends Feb. 28.

Here's the latest:

According to Allen's secretary of administration, Mike Thomas, Allen has until today to act on the Workforce Transition Act, which gives severance pay to state workers who leave voluntarily or are laid off.

"He'll be proposing an amendment which puts a sunset provision on the act so that it expires on July 1, 1996, which will allow it to be re-examined next year," Thomas said. "The reason for that [is], the bill is quite expensive."

The exact cost is hard to assess, but it could cost state agencies as much as $10 million, he said.

That's assuming a reduction of 1,500 state jobs this year, the estimate in the compromise budget released this week by the House of Delegates and Senate, he said.

The original legislation called for a review every three years.

If the amendment fails, Allen might veto the bill, Thomas said.

Under the governor's plan, workers get one week's pay for each year of state service.

The legislature's Workforce Transition Act offers employees with less than two years' service a package worth four weeks' salary. Those with three to nine years' service get four weeks' pay, plus one week for each year after two. Workers with more than 15 years of service get two weeks' pay per year served, with a minimum of 36 weeks.

Thomas had some advice for workers who are wondering what to do about the imminent deadline for the governor's plan.

"If they're interested in it, go ahead and apply," Thomas said.

If the legislative plan becomes law, "they get the higher pay. If, on the other hand, they do not apply, and, for whatever reason, the Workforce Transition Act does not become law, then they've missed their opportunity."

Many provisions of the bill remain unclear. But it does say that university boards of visitors may allow faculty to participate in the buyout, and they may sign up between this April 1 and June 30, 1996.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

Memo: ***CORRECTION***