No Furloughs at State

Add the State Department to the growing list of federal agencies that will not furlough any employees.

State will not require its workforce to take unpaid leave in fiscal 2013, the Associated Press has reported. Sequestration’s impact on the agency is less than half of what was originally anticipated, having to cut just $400 million rather than initial estimates of $850 million.

In February, State sent a letter to its employees saying it would not require furloughs through June, but at that time could not make that promise for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. 

State has relied on cuts to travel and conference spending and a partial hiring freeze to reach the reduced budget levels. The department joins the Federal Aviation Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the Agriculture Department as federal entities to recently announce they will not require furloughs.