GFT alleges furlough occurred in '03

by Krystal Paco

Guam - It's a decade in the making, but the Guam Federation of Teachers is still fighting for payment for what appeared to be a teacher furlough when the Guam Education Board voted to delay the start of classes back in School Year 2003-2004. Attorney Robert Kutz, who represents the union, estimates 1,800 teachers were affected.

He told KUAM News, "The contention is that the teachers are paid on an annual basis rather than a school year basis to an extent that the 26-week teachers did not receive payment that they are entitled to be paid those two weeks regardless of the commencement of the following school year, that they're entitled to continuous employment and continuous payment. The department's position seems to be no harm no foul that eventually the teachers got paid but not when they were supposed to."  

GovGuam representative Attorney Fred Nishihira argues otherwise. "The Department of Education has held that this was not a furlough and in fact to grant CSC their decision and carry it out those teachers who are 26-week pay period would experience a windfall in a sense that they would get two extra weeks of pay that teachers who are on a 21-week payment would not receive," he said.

The supreme court took the case under advisement. The proposed DOE budget for next fiscal year budgets $4.5 million to pay these dues as validated by the Civil Service Commission pending legal action.