Is it true government workers are "not getting paid"?

Factual Questions
61

Yes but I do not think your HuffPo cite was sufficient.

So I did some work for you. It seems 28% of workers making $50,000-$99,999 usually or always live paycheck to paycheck, and 70% are in debt (and one in ten over $100,000 do). Federal workers are more likely to fall into that salary category but not all will. Clearly moving up the ladder makes living paycheck-to-paycheck less likely.

So far we cannot know how many federal workers are in this group but it is still safe to say “a lot”. Is it a majority? Maybe…

62

I agree with this.

63

a lot of things like building maintenance, custodians, landscaping , etc. are done by contractors , not federal employees. Those people would not be included in average pay surveys.

64

And they should not expect to see back pay. Any law requiring back pay for Federal employees obviously does not include contractors.

65

That’s of limited help at best.

MAYBE a large bank or loan company can float Federal workers with a mortgage, but for renters (and plenty of Federal workers are renters) the landlords can not do their because they, in turn, have bills to pay and their creditors aren’t going to extend mercy to them.

Truly, it is appalling that our government workers are now depending on charity to survive.

Trump’s administration is now officially a disaster. When is this man going to be impeached and removed from office?

66

I just heard that there’s a law that says that federal employees who are furloughed for 30 days are supposed to get riffed.

67

Don’t know if this has been covered yet, but: government workers who are not furloughed because they are in agencies that have been funded through September (or who, like me, work for an unfunded agency, but are working on projects paid for by one of the funded agencies) - we are still getting paid.

68

This is not a factual question. As a reminder, we’re in GQ, here.

69

They are supposed to “perform a monologue or spoken improvisation on a particular subject”???

70

Not sure if I’m being wooshed but:

Reduction in Force or RIF

71

It is, however, a factual statement.

72

Not gonna happen.

73

Has FEMA declared the Trump administration to be a disaster? That’s the only way that I know of that something can factually be “officially a disaster”.

74

That answers my question but there is another issue. Can an employer, whether governmental (Federal or State) or private company consider a person “essential” and require them to work for no pay.

You answered the question for Federal employees and I assume the other scenarios would be addressed by state or Federal law.

75

One thought that occurred to me: if I were a government “essential employee” and compelled into slavery right now, I admit I’d be pissed that I had to go through the hassle / expense of commuting, while my nonessential neighbor did not… and yet we wound up with the same amount of money at the end.

I think there ought to be some kind of special bonus / hazard pay / other compensation for people currently enslaved.

76

Thank-you, it was a serious question.

So, in plain English, they are supposed to be fired?

77

They’re not “enslaved”. They are free to quit their current position (in which they are experiencing a delay in payment) and find other employment. That has not been true of the vast majority of people “compelled into slavery” throughout history.

78

. It guarantees furloughed federal employeess will receive backpay once the shutdown ends.

No. This is an emergency furlough. RIF rules do not apply (PDF warning).
Addendum: Trump just signed Senate Bill 24 (S.24 - Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019) guaranteeing furloughed federal employees will receive back-pay, once the shutdown is over.

79

When did a political opinion = fact become the standard for this site?

80

nm