We're just hours away from a potential government shutdown that could leave up to 800,000 nonessential federal workers without work or pay until a budget deal is reached. Now the National Treasury Employees Union is calling on members of Congress to include language in the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill that would ensure all furloughed federal workers are paid.
In a letter to members of both the House and Senate, NTEU President Colleen Kelley noted that while employees "excepted" from a furlough have the right to be paid once appropriations are in place, there is no requirement that federal employees be paid if not allowed to work.
"During the 1995-1996 government shutdown, Congress recognized that federal employees did not create the dilemma surrounding Congress' inability to finish its work, and retroactively paid all federal employees," Kelley wrote.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration also favors compensating federal workers retroactively in the event of a shutdown, according to comments made on Thursday by a senior official at the Office of Management and Budget.
My family also is feeling the pinch of a government shutdown, as my husband, who's literally working around the clock flying missions overseas in support of our war efforts, may not see a paycheck indefinitely. As Government Executive's Emily Long reports, many of you also are concerned about how you will manage without a paycheck.
Are you facing a potential furlough? What frustrations or concerns do you have?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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