If there is a two-phase partial government shutdown beginning as soon as Saturday (March 2), it would cause a variety of impacts on federal employee pay beyond the usual differences between paid vs. unpaid status during agency funding lapses.
Agencies once again have brought out their “contingency plans,” which show the mix of employees who would remain on the job with pay because their salaries are not paid through annual appropriations, those who would be unpaid but must remain on the job due to the nature of their work, and those who would be furloughed without pay.
Those plans show that of the 2.2 million non-Postal executive branch workers, some 800,000 would be furloughed, more than 600,000 would continue working unpaid, and the rest would remain in paid status—most of which because of pre-funding for the VA’s health branch, with more than 400,000 employees.
Most federal employees are paid under a biweekly pay cycle, with the current one having started on February 25 and that will end March 9. Those who are furloughed or kept on the job unpaid stand to receive a pay distribution for the February 11-24 pay period this week or early next week, since funding was in place for that period.
Although there has been no formal announcement, if there is a first phase of a shutdown starting Saturday (March 1), employees in affected agencies presumably would receive a pay distribution for this week on the regular schedule, paid about two weeks from now. That would apply to employees of Agriculture, Energy, HUD, Transportation, other functions of VA, and associated agencies.
If there is a second phase affecting other agencies as well, affected employees presumably would receive at that time the full payment for the February 25-March 9 pay period—with the possible exception of a reduction for employees who normally would work March 9.
Federal payroll providers generally operate on a revolving fund basis and would remain open in a shutdown. Further, OMB guidance requires agencies to maintain enough staff in payroll offices to continue processing submissions to those providers.
If a shutdown were to start and then stop within a biweekly period there might be no impact on pay, depending on the timing.
In a shutdown, employees would receive notices several days in advance of their status. For those to be furloughed, that would include instructions to shut down their personal work and a reminder that they are not to work, even on a voluntary basis, while in unpaid status.
Both employees who would be furloughed and those who would work without pay are guaranteed to be paid eventually, under terms of a law passed during the most recent shutdown, in late 2018-early 2019. Before that, only those who had worked had such a guarantee but in practice those furloughed later were paid, as well.
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