The Trump administration’s budget office is claiming federal workers furloughed through the government shutdown are not entitled to automatic backpay, leaving compensation for roughly 1,700 workers at NASA Langley Research Center hanging in the balance.
Federal law states workers are to receive automatic backpay at the earliest possible date following a government shutdown. Congress passed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 after the previous shutdown, which lasted a record 35 days. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law during his first term.
However, a new draft memo from a top lawyer inside the White House Office of Management and Budget argued that law doesn’t entitle furloughed workers to automatic compensation, according to Axios. It only allows Congress to authorize those payments and requires lawmakers to set aside extra funds to ensure people are compensated once they return to work.
Hampton Roads has a high concentration of federal workers, largely due to the military presence. That includes more than 88,000 active-duty military and more than 52,000 federal civilian employees, according to data from the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Military members continue to work without pay, but it’s unclear how many federal workers in the region are furloughed.
One agency hit hard by the shutdown is the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. The facility has been reduced from a 1,756-person workforce during regular operations to 34 people, according to a Sept. 29 memo from NASA’ Chief Financial Officer Steve Shinn to OMB outlining the agency’s staffing plans in the event of a shutdown.
Officials from NASA Langley did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about the furlough impact.
According to the Associated Press, the new Office of Management and Budget memo said back pay must be provided by Congress, if it chooses to do so, as part of any bill to fund the government. Refusing retroactive pay to the workers, some of whom must remain on the job as essential employees, would be a stark departure from norms and practices and almost certainly would be met with legal action.
The memo comes after OMB edited its government shutdown guidance document this week to remove references to the 2019 law, according to reporting from Government Executive.
This is the first shutdown since the 2019 law took effect. An estimated 750,000 federal workers are furloughed nationwide as the government shutdown is entering its second week without a deal to fund the federal government.
The next federal pay day is Oct. 15.
Across NASA, an estimated 15,000 out of total 18,500 federal workers are furloughed, according to the agency’s shutdown memo.
The Trump administration previously proposed slashing NASA’s budget by a quarter and reducing its workforce by roughly 40%.
Virginia lawmakers are pushing back on OMB’s claim that furloughed workers should not receive automatic backpay.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who co-sponsored the bill, said in a statement the claim is an illegal attempt to withhold payments that Trump’s own administration previously promised.
“I was proud to work across the aisle in 2019 to pass legislation that Trump himself signed to guarantee backpay to federal workers during shutdowns,” Kaine said in a statement. “If OMB chooses thuggish intimidation tactics over following the law, it better prepare to face the American people in court.”
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com
