HARTFORD–More layoff notices were sent to state employees on Tuesday.
An additional 89 employees in the Department of Developmental Services received notices, and one person was laid off from the Military Department. The DDS employees currently work for some of the residential homes that will shutter, and the Military Department employee works for the Horse Guard.
Since the layoffs began on April 11, 650 Executive Branch employees and 126 Judicial Branch employees have gotten notices. Here’s the breakdown so far:
- Department of Developmental Services: 89
- Military Department: 1
- Department of Children and Families: 127
- Department of Economic and Community Development: 4
- Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services: 76
- Department of Corrections: 186
- Department of Social Services: 78
- UConn Health Center: 89
Also on Tuesday, the Judicial Branch announced that the latest budget proposal from the governor, released on Monday, means that the branch will lose an additional $79 million in funding. In turn, a statement from the department says that that would mean at least an additional 600 layoffs. Over the next week, 113 of those notices are expected to go out; the rest are pending the release of the final budget allocations.
Gov. Dan Malloy has said that he expects there to be more than 2,000 positions eliminated as the state works to close a $922 million budget gap. State lawmakers have been working for weeks on negotiating a balanced budget for fiscal year 2017, beginning July 1.
The current legislative session ends on Wednesday, and if an agreement isn’t reached it means a special session will have to be held in June to finalize the budget.
On Tuesday, SEIU 1199 Spokesperson Jennifer Schneider released the following statement in response to the layoffs:
Today’s layoffs to workers who have dedicated their lives to caring for the intellectually disabled are very harmful for our state,. Eliminating workers who care for the disabled should be Connecticut’s last resort, not the first step in solving budget deficits. We encourage the Governor and lawmakers to use a portion of the $406 million in the state’s rainy day fund before making the drastic step to remove caregivers from the disabled who depend on them for their most basic every day needs.
