President Trump is preparing to sign legislation to end the 35-day partial government shutdown, but the 800,000 federal workers who missed paychecks won’t get paid immediately.
Under a best-case scenario, back pay will be processed under a “special out-of-cycle run,” meaning a special processing period, said Tim Kauffman, a spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees, a large union representing federal workers.
If pay is processed under a special run, workers will have to wait a minimum of three days, he said.
“If appropriations are enacted by today or early next week, and the agencies/shared-service providers agree to do a special out-of-cycle run, then paychecks could be delivered in a minimum of 3 days,” Kauffman said in an email.
Kauffman said a decision on performing a special run — rather than reimbursing employees on the next pay date, which is in approximately two weeks — would be made by the Office of Personnel Management in conjunction with agencies doing the payroll.
Trump on Jan. 16 signed legislation guaranteeing retroactive pay to workers who missed paychecks. That law says affected workers “shall be paid … at the employee’s standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates,” suggesting a special run.
A senior administration official did not provide a specific time frame for getting workers back pay, but said “the administration is taking steps to ensure that they receive pay as soon as possible.”
“Since specific payroll issues vary by agency, employees can find more information about paycheck details by reaching out to their agency,” the official said.
Spokespeople for OPM and the White House Office of Management and Budget did not provide on-record responses.
Trump announced in a Friday afternoon speech in the White House Rose Garden that he would sign a three-week spending bill reopening departments and agencies that were forced to close Dec. 22 in a legislative fight over Mexico border wall funds.
On Friday, workers missed their second full paycheck, potentially doubling late-pay penalties to workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
