The worst of the unpaid furloughs for federal employees for this fiscal year appears to be ending, with the expiration as of this week of the furloughs affecting the largest number of employees, at DoD. That department scaled back the initially planned furloughs from 11 days to six, starting the week of July 8 and spread over one day a week on average. Because scheduling was largely left up to individual work units some employees could be in different situations, however. Some may have gotten permission to delay their furloughs and thus may yet need to take time off in the weeks ahead. Others may have taken more than six days already for personal preferences or perhaps to try to qualify for unemployment compensation benefits, which require a period of continuous time off from work. What will happen with them is uncertain; they may be allowed to substitute annual leave for excess days. Meanwhile, HUD has canceled its last two dates, which had been set for August 16 and 30, and the IRS has postponed the last of its planned days August 30 – although it may yet impose that day in September. The respite might be fairly brief, however. Furloughs again will be threatened in many agencies for the fiscal year that begins in October if sequestered budget levels remain in place, as is being proposed in the spending bills moving in the House. The House DoD bill contains a provision barring DoD from imposing furloughs in the upcoming fiscal year; advocates of other agencies could try to do the same as the appropriations measures are taken up in September.
