Veterinarians get caught up in ‘essential’ versus ‘excepted’
October 09, 2013 | 06:43 PM
The American Veterinary Medical Association on Tuesday got caught up in the debate in Washington over whether federal employees who are on the job during the shutdown should be declared “essential.”
AMVA issued a news release early in the day praising Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for deeming certain employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Center for Veterinary Biologics as “essential,” which allowed them to return to work to test and release animal vaccines.
Later in the day, AMVA sent out a correction that its use of the term “essential” had been incorrect. “Only the CVB employees who are directly responsible for testing and releasing animal vaccines into the marketplace have been called back to work, or ‘excepted’ from the government furloughs,” the association said.
Today an AMVA spokeswoman told The Hagstrom Report that the group had issued the correction after an APHIS official emailed an explanation:
“ ‘Essential’ is a term used in the context of building closures because of weather conditions or disasters like fires,” APHIS said.
“ ‘Essential’ is not really a term used in the context of a government shutdown because of the lack of appropriations. Our employees who have been excused from furlough have been ‘excepted’ and not deemed ‘essential,’ and we have tried to explain that so our folks understand what category they fall in. Indeed some employees might be deemed ‘essential’ in a weather emergency, but not in a funding-based shutdown.”
AMVA issued a news release early in the day praising Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for deeming certain employees of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Center for Veterinary Biologics as “essential,” which allowed them to return to work to test and release animal vaccines.
Later in the day, AMVA sent out a correction that its use of the term “essential” had been incorrect. “Only the CVB employees who are directly responsible for testing and releasing animal vaccines into the marketplace have been called back to work, or ‘excepted’ from the government furloughs,” the association said.
Today an AMVA spokeswoman told The Hagstrom Report that the group had issued the correction after an APHIS official emailed an explanation:
“ ‘Essential’ is a term used in the context of building closures because of weather conditions or disasters like fires,” APHIS said.
“ ‘Essential’ is not really a term used in the context of a government shutdown because of the lack of appropriations. Our employees who have been excused from furlough have been ‘excepted’ and not deemed ‘essential,’ and we have tried to explain that so our folks understand what category they fall in. Indeed some employees might be deemed ‘essential’ in a weather emergency, but not in a funding-based shutdown.”
