Federal workers not entitled to back pay after shutdown, budget office claims

[Zorro]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Washington Post

Furloughed federal workers are not entitled to automatic back pay after the government shutdown ends, the Trump administration’s budget office claimed in a new draft memo obtained by The Washington Post, ratcheting up tensions in Washington over the week-long closure.

The top lawyer at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) argued in the draft that the law Congress passed and Trump signed in 2019 that guaranteed back pay to furloughed workers does no such thing.

Mark Paoletta, the OMB’s general counsel, wrote to White House budget director Russell Vought that the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 and subsequent legislation merely create conditions for Congress to authorize those payments. Lawmakers must also specifically set aside additional money to compensate workers returning from furloughs, he wrote.

Policymakers, including leading appropriators in Congress and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), had generally interpreted the law in a more straightforward fashion: that new legislation to fund agencies would also automatically pay the government’s employees, whether furloughed or working without pay.

Read more: https://wapo.st/47dbJEe

[AZJonnie]

1. Because they are trying to get the employees to say "well fuck this then" and quit

They probably can NOT refuse to pay these people, but if they can get a non-zero % of the employees to "hear they're never getting paid" and stop showing up, every one of them they'd regard as a "win".

[Torchlight]

2. Possibly trying to squeeze the workers to put pressure on who he wants them to blame

May work for a small percentage of laid off and desperate workers, but not enough I'd think.

[dweller]

3. ' We don't like this law or what it says

So we will interpret it to mean what we want it to mean , and to say what we want it to say , so fuck you . ‘

😑




✌🏻

[Puppyjive]

4. What about those employees forced to work

Just wondering if they get back pay? Going to put strains on state unemployment.

[johnnyplankton]

5. I wonder how the National Guardsmen are going to feel about terrorizing people and NOT getting paid (see below)

From the National Guard website:

Since Congress failed to pass normal appropriations or a stopgap budget before the start of the fiscal year on Tuesday, the federal government is officially shut down.

But not every function of the federal government is affected. Impacts to the National Guard largely depends on the status of the personnel involved in a particular function.

Guardsmen on federal orders, Title 10 or Title 32, will continue in a normal duty status but without pay.

The same with Active Guard and Reserve personnel, according to Department of War Contingency Plan Guidance released Sunday.

[link: https://www.ngaus.org/newsroom/how-government-shutdown-impacts-guard|

[travelingthrulife]

6. The more he does these nasties to people, the sooner this nightmare will be put down.

[Omaha Steve]

7. AFTER a review by forum hosts LOCKING

DUPE of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143543154

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