In something of an add insult to injury twist, employees who accumulate 80 hours or more in unpaid status during a leave year do not earn annual or sick leave for the pay period in which they hit that number. If the shutdown goes into next week, that could apply to the large majority of the federal workforce, apart from those still in paid status. Many employees who were furloughed earlier in the year due to the sequester may have passed the threshold alreadyand others could cross that mark by the end of this week. Apparently, the leave will be restored when employees are granted retroactive back pay that in effect would wipe out part of the unpaid time; specific policies on that procedure have not been issued.
