The current shutdown is now violating federal labor law, per a 2014 court ruling
12 replies, posted
https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2019/01/tomorrow-shutdown-becomes-longest-ever-and-illegal/154112/?oref=top-story
The federal government is poised to drag into its longest ever closure on Saturday, when the partial shutdown will enter its 22nd day. The shutdown is set to exceed the previous record-
holder, the 21-day shutdown in 1995-1996. It also marked a key day for the more than 800,000 federal employees impacted by the appropriations lapse. On Friday, most of them did not
receive their scheduled paychecks for the first time.
The missed pay brought the shutdown further into new territory: it is now illegal. That is according to a precedent set by a federal court after the 16-day 2013 shutdown, in reference to
many of the “excepted” or “exempted” employees who are forced to work during the lapse with only the promise of retroactive pay once their agencies reopen. A group of those workers
sued the government after that lapse; 25,000 workers ultimately signed onto that lawsuit.
In 2014, Patricia Campbell-Brown, a judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, ruled the government violated the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act when employees worked without
receiving immediate pay.
Based on that precedent, the government again violated the law on Friday when it did not pay the roughly 500,000 employees who are working during the current shutdown. That has
led to multiple groups again suing the government, making the same allegations of FLSA violations. Zachary Henige, an attorney with Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman and Fitch, which is
representing the plaintiffs in one of those cases, predicted a “great likelihood of success” given the precedent from the 2013 suit. He expected a much quicker decision this time
around, noting the suit was filed in the same court and has initially been assigned to the same judge.
Hopefully this leads to the 'critical' government workforce to be paid. Nobody should have to work without compensation.
And backpaid.
trump will run the country like a business all right
Ya, bankrupt it and break several laws while pissing off anyone else involved while enriching himself and his cronies.
can't get in trouble for breaking federal law if there's no federal government!
Trump has done so many things that violate various laws with 0 repercussions. These articles are nice and all, but when will there finally be something done?
Courts are slow.
Yeah, like one of his businesses, you know the ones that all went bankrupt with workers not being paid but Trump getting away with millions.
the recent bill that surprisingly passed with zero opposition (except 7 jackoffs in the house) means that even future shutdowns will have back pay
Hopefully it should be relatively fast in this case, considering there's been a ruling on this situation before.
Where will the money come from?
the government doesn't just stop having money because they haven't passed a new budget yet; the budget itself doesn't magically spawn new money
the budget decides how to spend that money, but we can rest assured that ANY new budget despite all the arguments will include this whole new term's federal employee paychecks
so the money comes out of the future budget, you could say
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