WASHINGTON—The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit against the Trump
administration Dec. 31, charging that it is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying the 420,000 “essential” federal employees working despite the partial shutdown of the federal government. Another 380,000 have been furloughed because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept congressional spending bills that don’t include $5 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border, but those considered essential, including Border Patrol agents and corrections officers, have to keep working. “They’re working a dangerous job, they’re critically understaffed, and now, they don’t know when they’ll next get paid,” lead attorney Heidi Burakiewicz told the Washington Post. “It’s unacceptable for any employer, but especially for the U.S. government.” In a similar suit after the 16-day shutdown in 2013, a court ordered the government to pay workers twice the back pay they were owed, but there are still 25,000 employees who have not yet received it. “Our intent is to force the government and the administration to make all federal employees whole,” AFGE President J. David Cox said in a statement Dec. 31, calling having to work without pay “nothing short of inhumane.” Read more
