Washington, DC – Although the government shutdown has ended, the American Federation of
Government Employees is moving forward with its legal action against the Trump administration.
AFGE, the nation’s largest federal employee union, filed its lawsuit against the federal government on Dec. 31, alleging that the Trump administration was violating the law by requiring some federal employees to continue to report to work without pay. The shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, had left roughly 800,000 workers furloughed or working without pay.
Ahough workers will receive back pay, AFGE is not dropping its case. The union is urging federal employees who have been working without pay to join the case as plaintiffs and to fight for liquidated damages for any financial harm they may have suffered.
“While the agreement reached by the White House and Congress will put employees back to work temporarily and allow them to start getting paid, we will not stop fighting until we have full-year funding approved for all our agencies and until all employees are made whole for the income they have lost,” said AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr.
