HONOLULU -- Gov. Linda Lingle on Thursday unveiled her plans to furlough state workers for three days a month.

The plans affect about 15,600 workers who belong to the Hawaii Government Employees Association and United Public Workers unions.

For employees who work in departments that can close, such as the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and Department of Human Resources Development, the state will close those offices for the first three Fridays of the month, officials said. Those offices will have extended hours on the days they are open.

"We picked days when there would be the least number of transactions or public interactions," Lingle said.

Offices that have uninterrupted service, such as Civil Defense, will remain opened on all their regular hours and days, but with fewer workers as employees rotate or stagger their furloughs.

"I recognize the impact the furloughs will have on many employees and their families. This is not something we want to do, but something we have to do to balance the state budget," Lingle said.

Lingle announced at the beginning of the month that she will begin the furloughs on July 1. She said payroll is prepared to begin the paycheck adjustments.

In a letter to employees, the governor informed workers that anyone hired before July 1, 1998, will see their adjustments starting on July 20; anyone hired after July 1, 1998, will see the adjustments in the Aug. 5 paycheck.

Airports, harbors, highway safety crews setting up the Zipper lane and cones and the governor's office are included in that category. Employees will be furloughed 72 days over two years.

"I want to emphasize this is temporary it is something we will recover from," Lingle said.

The governor says the only thing that would stop her from imposing furloughs would be if she was blocked by the courts or if the public worker unions come up with an equivalent $688 million in savings to help close the budget gap.

Public worker unions have already filed court complaints to stop the furloughs. "All of the directors are working on a layoff plan if we are blocked from implementing furloughs," Lingle said.

The governor said that if the economy improves, she will consider halting the furloughs. However, she said she is not willing to even consider that until the middle of next year.

Lingle said the state will save a lot of electricity costs with furloughs. Some entire state office buildings will be shut down on furlough days. In other buildings, whole floors will shut down.

Sources said the state is still trying to figure out whether to furlough workers at the prisons, youth facility and state hospital. If employees are not furloughed, the departments will have to make cuts equivalent to the furloughs, officials said.

The state is looking to cut $688 million in payroll cuts as part of a projected shortfall in tax revenues. The Council on Revenues forecasted the state will need to another $730 million to make up a deficit.

State and union negotiators met with a federal mediator on Wednesday in a preliminary meeting.

The governor cannot order furloughs at the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii system, but she has told those departments that they will have to make cuts equivalent to the furloughs.

The furloughs do not affect the Judiciary, the Legislature or the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.