Soaring Absenteeism in Shutdown Tests the Ban on Federal Strikes

Whether in protest or out of necessity, a growing number of federal workers whose jobs have been deemed essential are calling in sick or claiming hardship exemptions -- testing the limits of strict laws against organized job actions.

Absenteeism among correctional officers and other workers at a federal prison in West Virginia is running so high that the warden is threatening to declare some AWOL. So many airport security screeners have been skipping work -- one out of 10 on Sunday -- that airports have shut down some lines. Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service employees called back to process tax ...