Furloughs Ending for Champaign Engineering Lab

Employees at a federally-funded facility in Champaign can expect to see their required furlough days end later this month.

The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory starting taking their required furlough days a month ago, but that is about to change because of a recent decision by the Pentagon to cut the number of days from 11 to six.  Defense officials said they were able to identify about $1.5 billion in new savings.

As a result of the decision, CERL spokeswoman Dana Finney said it now appears staff at the Champaign facility can stop having to take unpaid leave in the next couple of weeks.

Finney noted that some projects have been delayed because of the furloughs.

The Construction Engineering Research Lab is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.