Trump says furloughed federal employees may not receive back pay after shutdown lifts

Furloughed federal government employees may not be entitled to back pay after the shutdown lifts, US President Donald Trump said, adding that the payments will depend on who he deems “deserving” of the money.

The Republican leader made the remark when asked by reporters about a draft White House memo arguing that 750,000 employees expected to be furloughed are not guaranteed to get their money when they return to work.

“It depends on who we’re talking about,” Trump said. “I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy.”

“For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way,” he added.

According to Axios, a draft White House memo lays down the details of the directive, which clashes with the Office of Personnel Management’s own September guidance, saying that federal workers are to receive retroactive pay after the shutdown lifts.

What does the law say?

At the same time, Trump signed a law after the last shutdown in his first term – the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) – stipulating that all federal staff “shall be paid for the period of the lapse.”

The law says, according to NBC, “Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations.”

But the new memo argues that, under an amended version of GEFTA, the money for those workers needs to be specifically authorised by Congress and is not automatic.

Withholding back pay would be seen as a significant escalation by Trump, who has already threatened the jobs of thousands of furloughed workers if Democrats do not back down.

US govt shutdown

The US Senate has once again failed to pass a spending budget, making it the fifth such time that would continue to keep the government in a state of shutdown.

Both Democratic and Republican funding proposals failed to pass in the Senate, unable to reach the 60-vote threshold needed for approval.

With this Senate vote stalemate, the government has entered its seventh day in shutdown as Republicans and Democrats fail to reach a consensus over legislation on healthcare. The Democratic-proposed bill to extend the government’s spending failed first on Monday with a 45-50 vote, while the GOP’s bill fell short at 52-42.

With inputs from agencies