Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C. – If the federal government shuts down at midnight tonight, employees should get paid fully and quickly as soon as it reopens, Tony Reardon, National President of the National Treasury Employees Union said Friday.

“The constant threat of government shutdowns leaves federal employees weary and anxious. Those sent home have no guarantee of being paid, and those still working have no sense of when they will be paid,” Reardon said. “This is not how our nation’s federal workforce should be treated.”

NTEU supports legislation in the House and Senate to ensure that federal employees are not harmed financially by the inability of Congress and the administration to reach an agreement before appropriations lapse.

“Federal employees are regular middle-class workers who have families to support and bills to pay, and their paychecks should not be yet another casualty of a shutdown,” Reardon said.

Reardon sent letters to members of Congress on Friday urging a vote on H.R. 4827 and S. 2274, which would require furloughed federal employees are paid and that all workers be paid as soon as possible when the government reopens, regardless of when the next regularly scheduled pay period ends.

“A government shutdown is unnerving for our nation’s civil servants, who worry about their agency missions and their ability to provide services to taxpayers,” Reardon said. “A political stalemate should not cause them to get behind on their mortgage or run up more debt on their credit cards.”

NTEU officials on Friday spoke with administration officials about shutdown preparations, and urged them to provide clear instructions to agency employees as soon as possible about their work status in a shutdown.

“The damage caused by shutdowns is extensive. They hurt the economy; they diminish public faith in our elected leadership; they waste taxpayer money; and they deprive taxpayers of the services they need,” Reardon said. “We should do what we can to minimize the damage they cause to the thousands of highly-skilled professionals around the country who chose a career in public service.”

Federal employees do not get paid during a shutdown, whether they are furloughed or are required to work because they are integral to national security or public safety. For example, the vast majority of Customs and Border Protection employees who process travelers and cargo at the 328 ports of entry will continue to show up for their shifts without knowing when they will be paid for that work.

During the shutdown in 2013 when federal employees went two weeks without pay, NTEU surveyed its membership and found 84 percent had cut back on necessities and 72 percent went further into debt. At the peak of the shutdown, 850,000 federal employees were forced into unpaid work furloughs.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.