Update 0630 a.m. EST Oct. 7: While some commissaries reopened yesterday, most posts and bases have announced that their stores will open either today or, in places where stores are closed on Mondays, on their next regular business day.
Commissaries could reopen on a normal operating schedule as early as Monday thanks to a new guidance issued by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel late afternoon Oct. 5.
Most DoD civilian employees, including commissary workers, were warned in the memo issued to DoD leaders that they will soon be recalled from their furloughs. That means the commissary would be staffed and ready for business.
But the memo did not give clear guidance on just when the recall will be made. And while some assumed that the memo was issued on Saturday evening so that workers could return Monday morning, no portion of the memo spelled that out.
Meanwhile military family members are still confused over a notice posted on the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) site that they were still awaiting guidance on just how to implement a law exempting military pay from the shutdown. That guidance is expected to be issued before Monday.
Also on the civilian recall list are all military family support civilians, such as Army Community Service workers, Family Readiness Support Advisers and Officers (FRSAs and FROs) and all civilians who process payroll and human resource needs, such as promotion boards.
The recall was announced by Hagel after DoD officials determined that the same law that makes sure military members will receive pay on the 15th despite the shutdown also applies to some but not all DoD civilian employees.
It was unclear how many of the 400,000 DoD civilian employees the recall will not apply to. The notice said some Public Affairs employees and some workers with the office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer, for example, will not qualify and will have to wait until the government shutdown ends to return to work.
You can read more about the recall notice over on our Military.com Mothership.
