In the United States, a furlough is a temporary leave of some employees due to special needs
of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in
the economy as a whole. These involuntary furloughs may be short or long term, and many
of those affected may seek other temporary employment during that time.
Federal government In the United States, involuntary furloughs
concerning federal government employees may be of a sudden and immediate nature. Such
was the case in February 2010, when a single Senate objection prevented emergency funding
measures from being implemented. As a result, 2000 federal workers for the Department of
Transportation were immediately furloughed as of March 1, 2010. The longest such shutdown
was December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996, which affected all non-essential employees,
shutting down many services including National Institutes of Health, visa and passport processing,
parks, and many others. This happened again on October 1, 2013.
The United States Congress failed to pass a re-authorization of funding for the Federal
Aviation Administration, and as a result, furloughed about 4,000 workers at midnight
on July 22, 2011. Potential furlough in 2011
Congress was on the verge of forcing a government shutdown on April 8, 2011, if their plan to
reduce the federal budget deficit was not resolved, which would have caused the furlough
of 800,000 out of two million civilian federal employees.
Furloughs in 2013
The first federal government furloughs of 2013 went into effect as a result of budget
sequestration - the automatic spending cuts in particular categories of federal outlays.
The sequesters were designed to take place if the federal deficit exceeded a set of fixed
deficit targets. In 2013 specifically, sequestration refers to a section of the Budget Control
Act of 2011 that was initially set to begin on January 1, 2013, as an austerity fiscal
policy. These cuts were postponed by two months by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
until March 1, when this law went into effect. At that time, most federal departments and
agencies began furloughing their employees in order to meet their respective spending
cut targets. For the Department of Defense, almost all of the civilian workforce as well
as most full-time, dual-status military technicians of the National Guard and the Reserves were
affected by the furlough. The initial furlough requirement was 176 working hours per affected
employee, which was later cut down to 88 hours. Due to cost cutting measures in other areas,
this furlough was further reduced to a total of 48 working hours per DoD civilian and full-time
Reserve Component member. Later, on October 1, 2013 at 12:01 am EDT,
Congress' inability to agree on a spending bill led to a government shutdown. During
the shutdown, most "non-essential" government employees were furloughed. This resulted in
approximately 800,000 government workers being put on a leave beginning October 1. Congress
later unanimously voted to restore pay to the furloughed workers.
Schools Board members of various school districts
as well as universities implemented "furlough days" in 2009. This made students pay the
same rate, if not more for their education while providing fewer educational days by
forcing educators and staff members to take the day off. In states such as Georgia, the
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia included a clause so that mandatory
furlough days are implemented but no classes are lost during the 2009-2010 academic year.
In California, the State Employee Trades Council voted to implement a mandatory two-day per
month furlough policy for the staff and faculty of the CSU system. The furloughs, intended
to prevent layoffs, began in August 2009, and ended in June 2010. The 10% cut saved
about $270 million of the CSU's $564 million budget deficit.
Private companies In the global recession of 2009 companies
such as Intel, Toyota and Gannett implemented furloughs.
In the federal government shutdown of 2013 federal contractors such as Lockheed Martin
and United Technologies considered furloughing their own employees.
See also Four-day week
Layoff Short time
References
External links Guidance and Information on Furloughs from
the United States Office of Personnel Management. Furlough: The worst cockpit terror of them
all! What if it happens to you? by Patrick Smith, May 26, 2006.
CNNMoney special report: Enjoy your forced vacation, March 11, 2009.