furlough Fridays

Work furloughs are meant to avoid layoffs, and losing a week's pay sounds a lot better than losing your job -- until the unpaid leave starts and you still have bills to pay. In a strange twist on what is supposed to be a way to save companies and governments money, some are finding that furloughs...

California state workers, feeling expendable, plan to use their mandated "furlough Friday" to protest at theaters across the state showing The Expendables, an action flick with an all-star cast including a cameo by their boss, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Faced with a $19.1 billion deficit and no hope for digging out, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday declared a fiscal emergency. Under the rules of the emergency, Schwarzenegger ordered three furlough days per month for all but essential state employees. State offices will be closed three Fridays a month.