Agencies are Preparing to not Pay Furloughed Feds

BULLETIN

Consultants at InformedFED have obtained information from well-placed HQ level sources within various agencies that there is substantial discussion and planning underway to avoid paying furloughed federal employees. This information is supported by significant evidence and recent reporting. Notably, this situation differs from previous furlough situations, even before the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 mandated backpay for federal employees. The internal human resources and payroll furlough procedures and workflow appear to be significantly different this time.

The Evidence Thus Far that Agencies are Preparing to not Pay Furloughed Feds

The Trump administration has publicly and repeatedly changed its stance on whether furloughed employees should receive backpay if the government shutdown is resolved. Trump himself has suggested that even excepted employees (employees forced to work without pay) should not be paid, even after funding is restored.

New furlough notices recently sent out mostly included the same introductory language as the original notices issued at the beginning of the shutdown. However, Government Executive obtained and reviewed firsthand new notices that reveal a significant difference: the new notices no longer include language assuring employees that back pay would be guaranteed upon the shutdown's conclusion. The reporting by Government Executive is consistent with what our internal HQ sources have told us.

Different Internal Processes to Support Not Paying Furloughed Employees

Our sources provided InformedFED with very specific examples of internal HR and fiscal processes that would enable agencies to categorize employees and calculate backpay using a payroll processor, such as DFAS. It is important to note that our internal sources are at the highest agency levels and the experts tasked with recommending and developing the systems and processes described below. They are the actual "button pushers".

These examples include:

• All employees are coded in agency timecards as furloughed.

  • This would be the easiest, and most traditional, method to use for a payroll processor to apply a singular quick fix for backpay. Simply process payroll and authorize pay for all employees coded in timecards as furloughed.

  • Previously, excepted employees (essential, required to work during furlough) were generally coded differently in timecards to ensure backpay (or even current pay) for those "essential" employees required to work during a lapse in appropriations.

• Agencies are keeping a "second set of books" (just like the Mafia).

  • Agencies are maintaining separate tracking mechanisms, apart from timecards, to monitor employees who were "excepted" or "essential" and were required to work.

    • One agency was using Excel spreadsheets while others developed a specific SharePoint tracking mechanism.

  • Some agencies are also reportedly tracking the absences of essential employees who are otherwise required to work without pay. An agency official informed us that his agency was instructed to later create corrected timecards that include these absences once the shutdown is resolved.

Why the Different Processes

Two separate sources informed us that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) , no friend of the federal employee, instructed agencies to develop methods and means that would enable the Trump administration to either 1) compensate all furloughed and excepted employees, 2) pay only a specific employee category while excluding others, or 3) withhold payment from all employees for the entire period of the appropriations lapse (no backpay). The internal HR and fiscal processes as described to us, would support this directive. It is crucial to emphasize that during previous government shutdowns, agencies did not maintain "a second set of books" in this regard because the intention was always to pay all employees, whether furloughed or excepted.

In short, it is apparent agencies are preparing to not pay furloughed feds at the direction of OPM and Trump himself. At this point, the outcome requires speculation.

Conclusion

As of the date of this post, we estimate the probability that furloughed federal employees will receive their pay to be approximately 2/3 (about 66%). Put another way, we estimate a 33% chance furloughed federal employees will not be paid notwithstanding the  Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019. Trump has made it clear he does not care about the law. Even the law he signed himself. Essential employees required to work during the furlough, stand a much better chance of receiving backpay. Finally, Trump has a very long history of refusing to pay his employees. This fact is a matter of public record.