The Spoils of Furloughs

A local blogger named Tim Morrissey recently wrote a post regarding the furloughs being foisted on state employees in an effort to deal with Wisconsin's debt. As he notes, every state employee is getting furloughed regardless of how their position is funded.

But the folks at OSER (so I don’t have to type “Office of State Employment Relations” every time) have said these furloughs are intended to affect every state employee, whether they get their money from rich old white guys in Cardinal red sport jackets, or from Uncle Sugar himself in the form of grants.

So how do those grants work?

Let's say your job is paid for via federal grants. I've been told that most grant monies are doled out all at once. So the state gets the money, puts you on furlough, and then finds itself with 3% of the grant in its pocket. Does the state then return the money or does it get to keep it?