San Diego is putting about 800 city workers on furlough to help close a large budget gap created by sharply shrinking tax revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furloughed employees haven’t been laid off, but they will temporarily no longer receive pay unless they choose to use accrued vacation time. Some may also be eligible for continued pay under recently created federal COVID-19 programs.

Most of the employees had been working at city libraries and recreation centers before those facilities closed. Some others worked for the city’s Transportation and Stormwater Department.

City officials last week estimated the pandemic would cost San Diego about $109 million: $83 million in lost hotel tax revenue and $26 million in lost sales tax revenue. San Diego is expected to suffer more than most other local cities because it relies so much on tourism.


Using the average salary for city workers of $70,000, one month of furloughs for 800 employees would save the city nearly $5 million. If the furloughs last through June, the city’s savings could approach $15 million.

Most city workers, more than 93 percent, have either started telecommuting or have been shifted to other duties since the county’s stay-at-home order three weeks ago made it difficult or impossible to report to work in a normal fashion.

The city’s largest labor union, the Municipal Employees Association, filed a grievance Saturday seeking to block the furloughs on a wide variety of grounds.

During a Monday afternoon conference call, attorneys for the union and the city were unable to resolve the situation. The City Council is expected to discuss the furloughs and the union’s grievance Tuesday during a session closed to the public.


Mike Zucchet, general manager of the union, said Monday the city implemented the furloughs without following proper protocol, which should have included negotiating with union leaders about why furloughs were happening, how long they would last and how employees were chosen.

“The city has the right to reduce its workforce — no one is arguing that,” Zucchet said. “But you can’t willy-nilly tell a 25-year employee that they are no longer getting a paycheck.”

The furloughs could make affected workers eligible for unemployment benefits, which are much larger than normal during the pandemic. Zucchet agreed that was possible, stressing that should have been something the city discussed with union leaders.

Zucchet also said that clarity on the city’s motives is crucial because city officials are expected to permanently lay off some employees during upcoming negotiations of a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.


Mayor Kevin Faulconer has stressed that the furloughed employees received full pay for the last three weeks and have been given the opportunity to volunteer for other city work for pay, such as filing jobs or helping at the Convention Center homeless shelter.

“The city has taken the unprecedented step of offering three weeks of paid administrative leave to employees with non-essential duties who could not telecommute,” said Craig Gustafson, a spokesman for Faulconer. “The city is feeling the impacts of this disease just like every other family and business, and we will continue to do everything we can to lessen the effects on our employees during this unparalleled time.”

In addition to those three weeks of pay, many other employees deemed non-essential will receive anywhere from two weeks to 12 weeks of additional pay under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

“After these several paid leave options are exhausted, the relatively small number of employees who aren’t performing essential functions and can’t work from home will then need to use their accrued vacation time,” Gustafson said. “We thank our city employees for their continued hard work and sacrifice, and look forward to the time when the state stay-at-home order can be lifted.”

