The IRS shared guidance Wednesday suggesting furloughed employees are guaranteed back pay under a 2019 law despite White House objections.
“Although you will be placed in non-pay and non-duty status during the furlough, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 requires employees of the federal government who are furloughed or required to work during a lapse in appropriations to be compensated for the period of the lapse,” reads a notice reviewed by The Hill.
“The employees must be compensated on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates. Employees required to work during the lapse in appropriations may use leave,” it adds.
The law referenced was passed after a 35-day shutdown lasted from late 2018 to early 2019 under the first Trump administration, ensuring federal employees would be compensated for their work after funding lapses in Washington.
The legislative text says paychecks will be dispersed after “any lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018.”
However, a draft memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implies a different interpretation under an amended version of the law, which states that furloughed workers will receive back pay “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.”
On Tuesday, President Trump told reporters “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.
His stance has received pushback from some Republicans, Democrats and union representatives.
“It’s not up to the president,” GOP Sen. John Kennedy (La.) said when asked about the possibility the Trump administration might not commit to back pay for the federal workers.
“I mean, his opinion matters, but Congress has got to appropriate the money,” he continued, according to a video posted online by a CBS News reporter. “Read the Constitution.”
Kennedy’s fellow Republican, House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), shared a different take and argued the administration is under no legal obligation to compensate furloughed workers for days lost to the shutdown.
“It is true that in previous shutdowns, many or most of them have been paid for the time that they were furloughed,” Johnson said Tuesday. “But there are some legal analysts who are saying that that may not be appropriate or necessary, in terms of the law requiring that back pay be provided.”
