https://x.com/RapidResponse47/...en-fox-news-n2194661

ya gotta admire that, she hears the tape, she sees the hands and holds her position and is not troubled with the fact that she is a practicing moron and un-truth teller. Admire the consistency but don't even try not to fall on the floor laughing your butt off at who these people are.

Oh, my aching country.

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
Senate Erupts in Laughter As Schumer Calls NYT Poll Blaming Democrats for Shutdown ‘Biased’

I laughed, Schumer laughed, everyone in the Senate chamber actually listening to Schumer laughed.

Good times.

In the last shutdown, federal employees who were furloughed sent home unpaid, but once it was over, Congress voted to give them back pay and the time off was considered paid vacation, not to be counted against their yearly total. We've talked about this before.

The Trump administration, sensed that if left to Congress, they may not authorize back pay in the future. As a result, back in 2019 Trump signed into law the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act which said the furloughed employees will be given back pay.

That begs the question that deserves to be asked - If the employees will receive back pay, why were they furloughed in the first place and why aren't they currently working? Fair question.

Well, well, well...

Multiple sites are reporting that there is a new draft legal opinion from OMB that says GEFTA only applied to the last shutdown and not to all future ones aka currently furloughed employees won't get back pay.

The author of GEFTA, a Dem, says it was not meant or intended to only cover that shut down but all future ones too. The actual language that OMB is focused on is the line "subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse." That means the pay is not automatic but rather needs to be appropriated separately from passing a CR.

It is a pretty narrow interpretation IMO but if GEFTA is interpreted to mean they will be paid, then why aren't they currently at work, like the rest of the excepted employees?

No congress can bind a future congress. If the congress passes a budget that excludes furlough payments then there are no payments regardless of what any past legislation included or not.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
No congress can bind a future congress. If the congress passes a budget that excludes furlough payments then there are no payments regardless of what any past legislation included or not.

That's a fair interpretation but I think it's to narrow however, if they intent in the original act was to make sure the furloughed were paid, why furlough them? Why not have them come to work instead of pissing away the $400M currently being pissed away every single day they aren't working?

But here’s the thing.

All of the 1811s in my old unit are “essential”. Same goes for ICE, Border Patrol, etc. Even though they are still at work every day, none are being paid. And if Congress doesn’t back pay everyone, they are working for free.

If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
But here’s the thing.

All of the 1811s in my old unit are “essential”. Same goes for ICE, Border Patrol, etc. Even though they are still at work every day, none are being paid. And if Congress doesn’t back pay everyone, they are working for free.

If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

Those people will get paid without a doubt, once this is cleared up. The ones that are sort of in limbo, subject to GEFTA, are the furloughed.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:

If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

Amen! That pretty much succinctly summarizes my thoughts on federal government shutdowns.

quote:

chronically lamented by American small business owners/taxpayers:


If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

I am still surprised that people hate on federal employee's so much. Like they shouldn't be compensated. And its a great vacation not knowing if you are going to be laid off and not have a job in the future.

Non government workers would be screaming bloody murder if their company told them to go home and they would let them know when they could come back to work!!!

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
But here’s the thing.

All of the 1811s in my old unit are “essential”. Same goes for ICE, Border Patrol, etc. Even though they are still at work every day, none are being paid. And if Congress doesn’t back pay everyone, they are working for free.

If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

Of the 75ish people who work at my local federal building, there are exactly 2 people currently furloughed. Both are Department of Labor wage/hour investigators.

Everyone else is "essential" and still working, just having to do it for free.

Levin: Dems are in a 'CONSTANT state of SABOTAGE'

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

quote:

chronically lamented by American small business owners/taxpayers:


If you are being forced to work, you should still be getting paid.

We are going to get paid. We are NOT 'working for free.'

I'm a GS employee, considered essential, so I'm still working, even though there may be a delay in gettimg my paycheck. . .

Here's one of the really sucky parts of this furlough.


Wife works for the feds, now without pay, but the paychecks will eventually come, and there's some hints in Washington that those on furlough may not receive back pay since they aren't doing any actual work.

One of the rules for those still working is that you cannot take leave and if you do, you will go on furlough and someone on furlough will replace you.

For me, I'm having open heart surgery on the 27th and the wife, by the terms of the furlough, cannot take leave to be at the hospital. She will be moved to the furloughed list and not allowed to come back until the shutdown is over.

Her boss is telling her to take the time and they won't count her on leave since this is not a vacation or an abandoning of her job but instead something that would be ordinarily covered by medical leave or FMLA. What the boss is saying is different than the furlough rules.

Sounds like a fun, doesn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
I am still surprised that people hate on federal employee's so much. Like they shouldn't be compensated. And its a great vacation not knowing if you are going to be laid off and not have a job in the future.

Non government workers would be screaming bloody murder if their company told them to go home and they would let them know when they could come back to work!!!

I don't hate government employees... I just think we have too much government, and therefore too many government employees.

My daughter is a government employee. She doesn't really want to be... but she knows things would be more difficult for her in many ways if she took a non-gov job.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
I am still surprised that people hate on federal employee's so much. Like they shouldn't be compensated. And its a great vacation not knowing if you are going to be laid off and not have a job in the future.

Non government workers would be screaming bloody murder if their company told them to go home and they would let them know when they could come back to work!!!

What? That happened to me 3 times in my career. One time we were literally told, "Go home, enjoy the holidays, don't call us we'll call you when or if we want you back". That was mid November.

The third time it happened my (now ex-) wife was 8 months pregnant. She'd quit her job due to a difficult pregnancy, and we were relying on my income and health insurance. Getting laid off was completely unexpected.

Yes, every employee being told to be at work should know for certain the terms of their pay for it. But as far as job security uncertainty? Welcome to the real world the rest of us live in.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:

For me, I'm having open heart surgery on the 27th and the wife, by the terms of the furlough, cannot take leave to be at the hospital. She will be moved to the furloughed list and not allowed to come back until the shutdown is over.

Her boss is telling her to take the time and they won't count her on leave since this is not a vacation or an abandoning of her job but instead something that would be ordinarily covered by medical leave or FMLA.

Firstly, best of luck on the surgery and a quick recovery!

Secondly, it sounds like your wife's boss is a decent human.