OVER A THIRD OF FURLOUGHED WESTMORELAND COUNTY EMPLOYEES BACK AT WORK

Over a third of the Westmoreland County Employees furloughed in October are back at work, according to Westmoreland County Commissioners.  The Trib reports that Commissioner Sean Kertes said that more employees are expected to come back next month.  The extended state budget impasse and a subsequent freeze on allocations for mandated social service programs led commissioners this fall to temporarily remove 125 full- and part-time staffers from the payroll.  As of Tuesday, 50 furloughed employees have returned to work.  Another 70 are still off the job and five have resigned or retired.   Commissioners initially said they anticipated the furloughs would save the county about $100,000 in payroll expenses every two weeks. Officials said payroll savings attributed to the furloughs have reached nearly $720,000.