Somewhat relatedly how does unemployment insurance work for the furloughed? Can they collect it? If they get back pay later do they have to return the unemployment payments? Could they actually come out ahead?
"Are federal workers eligible for unemployment benefits? Yes. Federal employees who are laid off, including those furloughed this week, are eligible to receive unemployment benefits. In general, for workers to be eligible they must have lost their job through no fault of their own, not quit or have been fired, and must have been employed long enough to meet state qualifications.
If Congress votes to reimburse federal employees, will they have to repay their unemployment benefits? Most likely, yes. States say they’ll attempt to recoup benefits paid to federal employees if the workers receive back pay once they’re back on the job. (Congress will decide that when it ends the shutdown.) States would notify workers that they owe the money back. Officials in several states said that if workers don’t voluntarily repay, the state would garnish wages, tax refunds and deny future unemployment benefits to recoup the money."
