over 100,000 employees, while almost all Disney executives kept their jobs and received bonuses. United Kingdom The word furlough was used until at least 1908 to describe military personnel home on leave. It was also widely used by religious groups in the twentieth century to refer to the periods when their missionaries returned to the UK on long leave. COVID-19 pandemic In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Her Majesty's Government introduced what was described as a "furlough" programme to support employers and workers. For many years the term "furlough" had been very little known in the United Kingdom, and many HR managers were not acquainted with the US "furlough" system. Formally named the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, it funded businesses to continue paying up to 80% of employees' salary for those that would otherwise have been made unemployed. Philippines In the Philippines, a furloughed employee is deemed to be placed on "floating status". The Labor Code, particularly Article 301, provides a legal basis for the furlough process of an employee; an employee could be furloughed if the business had a "bono fide suspension of operations" or if the said individual should fulfill a military or civic duty. The Labor Code emphasizes that the employment status of a furloughed employee is not terminated. Employees under "floating status" do not render actual work and thus do not receive any salary. However an employee may only be placed on floating status for a period of not more than six months after which the employee could be retrenched or asked to report back to work. During the COVID-19 pandemic the Department of Labor and Employment issued an order allowing furloughed employees to be extended for a year provided there is mutual agreement between the employer and employee and for employees to look for alternative temporary work without losing their employment status with their original employer. Other uses The term furlough in employment can also refer to annual leave, long service leave, time off based on a company-planned schedule. For example, with a "work three weeks, off one week" schedule, a company's workforce is divided into four groups. Each group, in turn, takes a week off on furlough while the remainder work. It can also refer to a vacation from missionary work, military leave, or, in the case of convicts, parole, probation, conjugal visit, or work release. See also Four-day week Layoff Short-time