TSA Workers Taking 'Unscheduled Absences' As Government Shutdown Drags On

The Transportation Security Administration said Friday that 7.6 percent of its employees took “unscheduled absences” on Thursday instead of working without pay, as the partial government shutdown neared its sixth week.

The absence rate was down slightly from the 10 percent figure on Sunday, but still much higher than the 3 percent rate from the corresponding Thursday last year (Jan. 25, 2018).

TSA workers are among the hundreds of thousands of government workers furloughed or working without pay due to the shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding.

The agency said in a Friday press release that “many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations.”

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration halted some flights into New York’s LaGuardia Airport because of “a slight increase” in air traffic controllers taking sick leave instead of continuing to work without pay.

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