Some government workers who had been furloughed last week when Congress was unable to approve of a continuing resolution to continue to fund the government have been called back to work out of necessity, although a vast majority of those who were sent home remain there, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Many of the civilians who are employed at Fort Bragg, N.C., were bought back to work on Monday. The Defense Department reviewed a law that would allow for workers who contribute to the morale and well-being of service members to be brought back to work. 7,200 civilian employees were placed on furlough last week, it is unclear how many will be returning to work, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
"As directed by the Department of the Army, all civilian employees in support of soldiers are to return to work at their next scheduled shift," a statement read. "For the majority of Fort Bragg's employees, this means 8 a.m."
Defense contractors are expected to cancel furloughs for many of their employees after a Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced on Saturday that roughly 400,000 of civilian employees connected to defense will be returning work, according to CBS News.
United Technologies Corp., the maker of Black Hawk helicopters among other things, had originally planned on sending home 2,000 workers on Monday with an additional 2,000 subject to furlough if the shutdown continued into the week, according to Bloomberg.
"United Technologies greatly appreciates the efforts of those in the administration and Congress who facilitated the recall of the furloughed civilian employees," a statement from the defense contractor said.
Federal workers were also brought back from furlough on Friday in order to deal with possible damage from Tropical Storm Karen as it hit the Gulf Coast on Saturday. While the storm never reached hurricane strength and ultimately did little damage government workers were prepared for the worst, according to the New York Times.
"We will not let the government shutdown in Washington in any way hurt our emergency response efforts in Florida," Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement.
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana ended the furloughs of 520 technicians from the National Guard as he declared a state of emergency to prepare for the storm, the New York Times reports.
Despite the returns most of the government is still operating with a skeleton crew as Congress has yet to come to compromise in order to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government. Some of the government work that is piling up includes the wreckage of a plane in California that has not been investigated by safety inspectors due to the furlough and toxic waste has been left unprocessed at Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund sites because of the work stoppage, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
