Second Furlough Notice and Another Missed Paycheck Appear Likely for Shutdown Feds

Early next week will mark a new set of key deadlines in the partial government shutdown, with significant implications for the more than 800,000 affected federal employees.

By Monday, the shutdown will have dragged past the 30-day marker. That means the furlough notices most federal workers currently sent home without pay received on Dec. 21 will expire. Due to a quirk in federal statute, furlough notices can only last for a month. Most of the 300,000 employees still furloughed received a message at the start of the shutdown that read: “This furlough is not expected to exceed 30 days. Therefore, it expires on Jan. 21.”

According to guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, agencies should treat a shutdown passing the 30-day mark as resetting the clock.

“When the shutdown furlough goes beyond 30 days, agencies should treat it as a second shutdown furlough and issue another adverse action or furlough notice,” OPM said, which also clarified that reductions in force would not take place as part of any shutdown.

OPM did not respond to requests to confirm whether the second round of furlough notices would go out, whether it was coordinating those efforts with federal agencies or how the notices would be communicated to employees, instead referring questions to the Office of Management and Budget. OMB also declined to answer any questions, referring questions back to OPM.

Tuesday will bring another key day for federal employees, as multiple White House officials have said it is the deadline by which the government must be reopened to prevent feds from missing a second paycheck. In criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., planned trip overseas to war zones—which has since been canceled after President Trump revoked the military aircraft Pelosi and the congressional delegation planned to use—White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders noted that Pelosi was not scheduled to return until Tuesday.

“We want to keep her in Washington,” Sanders told reporters on Thursday. “If she leaves, she guarantees that the second round of paychecks to workers won’t go out.”

Most of the more than 800,000 federal employees affected by the ongoing shutdown are not scheduled to receive their next paycheck until Friday, Jan. 25, but federal agencies need a few days to certify time and attendance sheets and recall workers who process them. All employees, both those furloughed and those working due to exceptions and exemptions, are guaranteed back pay. Congress has also instructed agencies to make employees whole “at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends,” regardless of the timing of the next pay period or when the next round of paychecks is scheduled to go out.

Federal employees first missed their paychecks on Jan. 11, a date many lawmakers in both parties initially saw as a key date and potential turning point. As it turns out, it yielded no developments.

The second round of furlough notices, and missed paychecks, is all but assured. Both chambers of Congress have canceled scheduled recesses for next week, but members of the Senate have largely left Washington, D.C., and no votes are scheduled. They have been put on notice, however, to stay available for a quick return if a deal to reopen government is reached. The House on Friday adjourned until Tuesday.