Trump, True To Form, Looks For Way To Stiff Federal Workers When Shutdown Ends
Assuming the shutdown ever ends, of course.
Donald Trump, the master of never paying his bills because smart businessmen never do if they can avoid it, really does want to run the government like one of his failing businesses, with a plan to not automatically give furloughed federal workers the back pay they’re entitled to when the government shutdown ends. A draft memo from the Office of Management and Budget argues that a 2019 law requiring that furloughed workers get back pay at the end of a government shutdown doesn’t really do that, the Washington Post reports (gift link).
The memo says that federal workers deemed essential (or “excepted” this time around), who have to work without pay during the shutdown, will still get their back pay automatically once the shutdown ends. But for furloughed workers, the folks sent home and told not to work until the government is funded again, the memo says,
“The legislation that ends the current lapse in appropriations must include express language appropriating funds for back pay for furloughed employees, or such payments cannot be made,” Mark Paoletta, OMB’s general counsel, wrote to White House budget director Russell Vought.
In other words, when Congress passes legislation to fund the government temporarily and end the shutdown, it would specifically have to include back pay for furloughed workers or they’re SOL. That’s not how anyone had interpreted the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) law, which was passed after Trump’s last shutdown to ensure furloughed workers get paid at the end of future shutdowns
As we’ll see, that particular interpretation of the law depends on a creative — one might even say perverse — interpretation of one sentence in the 2019 statute. Perverse interpretations of laws is pretty much the Trump crew’s operating system.
The memo explains that, if you squint just right at the law, you can pretend that language about ending the shutdown itself can also creatively cheat furloughed workers out of back pay. That’s because the law says their automatic back pay is “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.” There’s more to the argument, but that’s the key bit.
Up until just last week, really, the law was understood to mean that once Congress passes a funding bill to reopen government, back pay is automatic. But hey, maybe “subject to” means not just funding the government, but also — in contradiction of the very point of the GEFTA law — subject to Congress including specific provisions for that back pay. The memo claims that,
Rather than creating an obligation, GEFTA appears to provide a permanent authorization for furloughed workers to receive backpay in the appropriations Act that ends the lapse. But it does not create a requirement to do so. Thus, GEFTA is not a definite commitment giving rise to a legal duty on the part of the government enforceable by a third party—it is an authorization, not an obligation.
As one unnamed “senior White House official” smirked to Axios, we’re in a postmodernist world where words can mean whatever the White House wants them to: “Does this law cover all these furloughed employees automatically? The conventional wisdom is: Yes, it does. Our view is: No, it doesn't.”
Here’s how novel the fuckery is: As of September 30, just a week ago, a White House FAQ on possible shutdown policy said that “both furloughed and excepted employees will be paid retroactively,” citing the provisions of GEFTA. But on Friday, suddenly the document was, without any announcement, changed to say that only excepted employees would definitely get back pay, and the reference to GEFTA was removed. Lookie here! On top of this lovely screenshot is Question 27 in the original version, and below that is the revision, with furloughed workers completely disappeared.
The Post points out that the current bill to end the shutdown by funding the government at current levels for another seven weeks doesn’t include any language about back pay, largely because until the new memo came out, Congress assumed that GEFTA took care of that. The bill passed the House already but is stuck in the Senate until Republicans agree to fund Obamacare subsidies and other provisions Democrats have held firm on.
Great Leader himself has apparently been made aware of the memo, not that he understands the pettifogging behind it. All he knows is that there’s a chance some federal employees might be screwed out of back pay, and that’s good enough for him. Here’s Dipshit Jong Un, back from whatever glue-and-stapling work kept him out of sight for several days, gleefully looking forward to punishing those awful federal workers he can’t stand, even if he isn’t sure who they are.
REPORTER: Is it the White House’s position that furloughed workers should be paid for their back pay?
TRUMP: I would say it depends on who we’re talking about. I can tell you this: The Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you’re talking about. But for the most part, we’re gonna 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, OK?
He just loves playing mob boss! As the Post put it, a bit tartly, “He did not elaborate.” Probably because he thinks he can arbitrarily fire anyone who’s furloughed, just to punish them for arrogantly working for the federal government. Asked to explain why some workers might not be paid, Trump, who clearly had no clue about any of the details, simply punted and said, “Ask the Democrats that question.”
As it happens, one Democrat who actually co-authored the 2019 law, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), had a really good answer: Fuck no, the law doesn’t make back pay optional or subject to Congress remembering to insert language specifying it, not for anyone.
All the anxiety can, of course, be avoided by Congress simply including language for back pay in its legislation to reopen the government, even if that seems unnecessary or redundant. But now that too will be one more thing for Republicans to try to obstruct as this stupid mess goes forward.
[WaPo (gift link) / OMB memo draft / Axios]
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Wage theft is literally a crime.
This is what the pricktator is famous for, screwing people. And Americans elevated him to office twice because they wanted to smash the minorities they don't like.
A fair number of these are likely government workers. Looks like the face-eating leopards ought to be having themselves an Old Country Buffet like you would never believe.