(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A draft White House memo argues that federal workers furloughed during the current shutdown are not automatically entitled to back pay in a move seemingly designed to intensify pressure on Senate Democrats to fold on funding.
The memo, described to Axios by multiple sources, hinges on a reinterpretation of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA). While the law has long been viewed as guaranteeing back pay after shutdowns, the administration claims it has been “misconstrued” or even that it is “deficient,” thanks to a January 2019 amendment.
“Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn’t,” said a senior White House official.
The argument rests on amended language stipulating workers are compensated “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” This means, in the administration’s reading, that Congress must explicitly approve their pay.
Critics, however, denounce the interpretation as legally baseless.
“There is no legal authority to support that interpretation of the statute,” labor attorney Nekeisha Campbell told Axios. Likewise, Sam Berger of the Center for Policy and Budget Priorities urged that the amendment is merely “recognition of the appropriations process,” and not a restriction path.
With up to 750,000 federal workers affected, one senior official denied that the interpretation was being used “simply as a pain-point for Democrats.”
However, the president and administration has sought to blame Democrats for the shutdown and force an end to it by implementing cuts.
The post White House Memo Claims Furloughed Workers Aren’t Owed Back Pay: Axios first appeared on Mediaite.
