Government Shutdown

[PrairieHunter]

I'm surprised this has not been discussed so far. I have a family member who works for the USFS who just loves it when these happen. According to him it's essentially paid time off as they will eventually get paid for the days.

The news in Denver was just discussing how this effects RMNP. I remember the last time this happened that South Dakota was trying to take over operation of Mt Rushmore to keep the tourist dollars flowing.

 

[Sytes]

It was discussed briefly within another thread. Here is the down and dirty of Gov't Shutdown related to Fed employee's, et al. While it sounds like a great paid vacation without the use of Annual Leave, it brings on a stress level for many who make it by, paycheck to paycheck and the potential for those non exempt personnel that Congress determines whether "Furloughed" employees will be paid or not for their, "vacation". Scary thought Congress... decides...

Exempt employees will eventually receive pay for our time worked.

Status Notification for
Exempt or Excepted Employee

In the absence of either an FY 2019 appropriation, or a continuing resolution for the ***** (***), no further obligations may be incurred by ***, except for those (1) related to the orderly suspension of *** operations, (2) necessary to the performance of excepted functions, or (3) funded through other than annual appropriations that are not lapsing. Because you are, you are exempt/excepted from furlough during the government shutdown. This means you are required to report for work as usual.

Because you are performing an excepted function that would otherwise be funded by a lapsed appropriation, you will not be paid for work performed during the shutdown until Congress passes and the President signs a new appropriation or Continuing Resolution. OR Because you are funded by a non-lapsing appropriation, your pay will continue uninterrupted.

Please direct questions regarding your leave or absences from work to your supervisor/other management official or Human Resources Office.

Prudent judgment shall be exercised in performing any travel during a lapse in appropriations. The travel shall only be performed when absolutely necessary and there are no alternative means of carrying out the activity. Travel should be highly limited in both scope and duration. Please direct questions regarding your travel to your supervisor/other management official.

Also see the Office of Personnel Management’s Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-ove...-guidance/guidance-for-shutdown-furloughs.pdf

D. Pay

1. Will excepted employees be paid for performing work during a shutdown furlough? If so, when will excepted employees receive such payments?

A. Agencies will incur obligations to pay for services performed by excepted employees during a lapse in appropriations, and those employees will be paid after Congress passes and the President signs a new appropriation or continuing resolution.

(Note: Presidential appointees who are not covered by the leave system in 5 U.S.C. chapter 63 are not subject to furlough, but are also barred from receiving pay during a lapse in appropriations. These Presidential appointees will be paid after Congress passes and the President signs a new appropriation or continuing resolution.)

2. Will employees who are furloughed get paid?

A. Congress will determine whether furloughed employees receive pay for the furlough period.

 

[Trial153]

The shut down is pretty much a blinking neon sign of our disfunction.

 

[onpoint]

This has been touched upon in another recent thread.
However I also have a family member, a USFWS employee, who agrees with your's. She been through this ad nauseum and is nauseated by it, but looks at it as a paid Xmas vacation. She used to be very apolitical-definitely "non partisan". That has progressively changed over the past couple years...................
On a deeper level, she's irritated that she is just a work-a-day (who just so happens to be a federal employee) who is much maligned by the public who pays her wages just because she's a public employee. Hell, she pumps parts of her paycheck right back into the almighty private economy-just like any other working stiff...........
This stuff is just symptomatic of a much deeper problem this country faces which has a lot of analogs in many of the discussions that happen on this very forum.

 

[JohnCushman]

Didn't Obama shut the government down for 16 days over getting Obamacare passed.....?

 

[SFC B]

Lucky me.....my work product is apparently essential and I must slave away ;( Not much longer though

 

[ringer]

Yes and he closed every park and all the boat ramps to inflict maximum pain on the people. I just fished today and the ramps are open. Wonder what the difference is?

 

[TheTone]

I'm a state employee and had some people at the gas station today wondering why I was working and stated they didn't think my job was essential. They were also talking among themselves about whether their government assistance would be on time...

 

[CampRipleyLF]

100% correct, its not paid time off without congress approving non essential employees getting paid.... let alone the government contracted workers just don't get paid. This is not a great thing for employees trying to make it with a family, let alone for the country. At this point I'm glad I work for the state and not the federal government because shut downs due to political disfunction is more likely at that level.

It was discussed briefly within another thread. Here is the down and dirty of Gov't Shutdown related to Fed employee's, et al. While it sounds like a great paid vacation without the use of Annual Leave, it brings on a stress level for many who make it by, paycheck to paycheck and the potential for those non exempt personnel that Congress determines whether "Furloughed" employees will be paid or not for their, "vacation". Scary thought Congress... decides...

Exempt employees will eventually receive pay for our time worked.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Shutdown less of an issue than other turds hitting the fan. Just another episode of the Apprentice.

 

[mtmuley]

I have to go to work Monday. mtmuley

 

[onpoint]

Who on here wants to bet they don't get paid eventually. Not at all to say that it won't negatively affect some-it will.
TheTones comments are priceless. As are Greenhorn's
Millions of Americans don't understand their own government much less how it operates.
My family member actually works for the very sportsmens/women who frequent this forum. When she spends some of her dollars on hunting and fishing gear, a portion of those purchases, beside benefiting the local economy, goes right back into funding the management of the very fish and wildlife resources that outsdoorspeople use - through Pittman-Roberts and Dingle-Johnson funds.
It's a complicated web, a lot of simplistic thought, especially by our politicians who overlook or ignore most of it.......

 

[Lawnboy]

I've got a bad feeling about this whole deal. Mattis and others fleeing. Interest rates and inflation peeking out. I voted for Trump and like some things he's done but others I'm just not ok with. You can only get divorced so many times and continue to blame the spouses before you look in the mirror and realize there is one common denominator in the equation. Too many people fleeing from him that were close to him. He's got a real big problem on his hands. It's not looking good for ol Trump IMO.

 

[elkduds]

Some days of my recent retirement from federal employment are better than others. Much better.

When I retired last June, 80% of my coworkers told me they were planning to leave the agency ASAP.

 

[Firedad]

I am an essential government employee on use or lose annual leave at the moment. I work for the USFS in fire and I’ll tell you as a region 5, 26/0 permanent employee I’ve dealt with this in the past. With the shutdown during the Obama administration some employees who had preplanned, preapproved annual leave scheduled did have their leave reinstated while the gov was shut down and were paid for that time too. For myself and many others as essential employees we had to report to work without pay. Whether on your “free vacation” or “working for free” we weren’t 100% sure if we would be paid in the future or if they’d reinstate the leave. They did. I assume the same will happen this time. What I agree with in the above posts is that not only do we not make a ton of money but now we may have to wait to receive a paycheck. Which is scary this time of year. I had three kids to buy Xmas for and I messed up big by not buying things sooner than last minute.

 

[Firedad]

Reading the info Sytes provided it looks like they made things clear for myself this time so that’s positive

 

[The Hedgehog]

Throwing the media out of the equation, the Mattis resignation letter and the follow-up Trump tweets are all anybody with half a brain should need to see how bad things are right now. The shutdown I’m sure is a frustrating & costly experience for many.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

the Mattis resignation letter and the follow-up Trump tweets are all anybody with half a brain should need to see how bad things are right now. The shutdown I’m sure is a frustrating & costly experience for many.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[hansontyrel]

If the government could just shut down for the rest of forever, that'd be greatttt.....

 

[rtraverdavis]

More than anything, this continued government disfuction makes me worry for my two little kids. What kind of world will they inherit?