US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will voluntarily return part of his salary in solidarity with Defense Department's 800,000 civilian employees facing unpaid furloughs.
The Pentagon will start forcing certain employees to take unpaid furloughs or leaves this month due to the mandatory budget cuts that entered into force on March 1 after Congress and the White House failed to reach an agreement on reducing the budget deficit in an orderly way.
Though furlough-exempt as a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed official, Hagel will commit to partial forfeiture over the 14-week furlough period, Pentagon spokesman George Little has said yesterday.
Hagel earns an annual salary of about USD 200,000 as defense chief, according to the daily Politico.
Little said he hopes the recent change reducing the projected furloughs from 22 to 14 days brings some relief to the workforce, and he added that employees will remain informed of any further changes.
Officials are reviewing analytics to determine the number of civilian employees they expect to have to furlough in the coming weeks, the Pentagon spokesman said.
He said, civilians serving in a war zone, foreign nationals protected by the status of forces of agreement and other categories would be exempted from the cuts.
"This has been a troubling time for them and for our uniformed employees too, even though they're exempt from furlough," Little said.
