The popularity of furloughs as a business cost-cutting measure is casting men and women who have held jobs since college into the ranks of the temporarily unemployed, and into an unfamiliar minefield of paperwork, deadlines and government bureaucracy should they try to collect state benefits.

That's assuming they even know that they're eligible for benefits -- many don't.

"It's happening more and more around the state," said David Smith, spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industry, which supervises the state's various unemployment compensation funds and services. He said unemployment officials were fielding more calls from furloughed employees.

Lots of companies (including the Post-Gazette) as well as entire state governments have used furloughs, or mandatory unpaid leave, as a way of saving on labor costs in a manner that doesn't require the outright dismissal of employees.

But as many workers are finding out, the furlough process isn't exactly a week's vacation.

Here's how it works in Pennsylvania: If workers are forced to take a furlough week, "They should file a claim right away, as soon as they experience the furlough," said Mr. Smith.

Signing up beginning with the first furlough week is important because the worker will be eligible for unemployment benefits during the next period of unpaid leave, as long as it occurs within the next 12 months.

Some people make the mistake of not signing up during that first week because they have been told there's no point since benefits aren't accrued until the second week of unemployment.

That's true, but the unemployment clock starts ticking after a claim is filed.

If someone doesn't file a claim until the second week of furlough, it's like the first week didn't count.

Some employees don't bother with filing a claim because they've been told by management they'll be asked to take only one week of furlough. Knowing they aren't eligible for compensation until the second week of joblessness -- and believing that the second week will never come -- they don't open a claim.

But that, too, is a mistake. That's because the boss could come back sometime in the next 12 months for another week off.

Unemployment benefits can accrue even if the furlough weeks are nonconsecutive -- if a worker has been asked to take one week off in each quarter, for example.

"Once you sign up, you establish what's known as a benefit year, and you only have to serve one waiting week within that benefit year," said John Stember, of Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne in Pittsburgh, an employee benefits law firm.

It might help to consult with an unemployment attorney, especially for those getting conflicting information from the state's unemployment office and from a company's human resources officials. An attorney also could help if an error on the employee's end -- or the Unemployment Compensation Service Center's end -- has led to a claim denial, meaning an appeal to a benefits referee.

The Mon Valley Unemployed Committee also is a good resource, said Mr. Stember. The number there is 412-462-9962.

The claims process is a little different for furloughed workers.

Ordinarily, after a layoff, they would check in with the unemployment office every two weeks to continue the claim and to keep it open.

In the case of a furlough, they would open a claim, then wait until the next week of furlough to reopen it (supposing the furlough periods are nonconsecutive).

For those who were unaware that they were eligible for benefits during a furlough and now want to claim compensation retroactively, it's unlikely that they'll be able to do so (unless they are part-time workers, seeking partial compensation).

For the most part, individuals have to be currently unemployed to receive compensation. If they took two furlough weeks last December but are now back to working, they won't see those benefits.

For more information on filing for unemployment compensation, visit the L&I Web site at www.dli.state.pa.us/ and click on the link that says "Unemployment Compensation Information," or call 1-888-313-7284.