Furlough notices delayed two weeks

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - The Department of Defense announced Thursday it will delay furlough notices for approximately two weeks.

The Pentagon was scheduled to start handing out furlough notices Thursday to the Defense Department's 800,000 workers. 

In a news release from the D.O.D., officials said the delay will be used to analyze the impact of the continuing resolution passed in the House and Senate.

A large portion of the notices were scheduled to make their way to the Hampton Roads region. Public Affairs Officer with Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Jeff Cunningham, said furlough notices were scheduled to be handed out to 9,100 civilian employees. 

"If I were one of those folks I would not be popping a champagne cork," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Thursday.

The continuing resolution will providing money for work on the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The new funding measure offers less promise though to ship repair projects, many of which the Navy has already said it will cancel or delay.

The measure does fund the Navy's Operation and Maintenance account at $7.5 million above the Fiscal Year 2013 request and more than $3.4 billion above the Fiscal Year 2012 amount.

"We have had discussions with the Navy hoping that this will curtail ah some of the furloughs from government employees," Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) said.

Cunningham said each worker was scheduled to be furloughed twice per pay period.  

The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission estimates 40,000 civilians in Hampton Roads will get notices. The furlough will force workers to have a four day week, taking away 20 percent of their pay.

The furloughs were scheduled to start at the end of April and last until September.