Trump and White House question back pay for furloughed workers amid government shutdown

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump and the White House are considering not paying furloughed federal employees for time they didn’t work during the government shutdown.

Such a move, suggested in a White House draft memo, would represent a new interpretation of the law that is likely to generate significant controversy on Capitol Hill and among government workers. It also comes as the Trump administration has said it is exploring mass layoffs of federal employees amid the shutdown.

Pressed by reporters Tuesday on whether furloughed federal employees would be paid, Trump suggested that they would be paid “for the most part,” but it might depend upon the worker.

“I would say it depends on who we’re talking about. I can tell you this, the Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you’re talking about,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

He added, “But for the most part, we’re going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”

Asked later to detail why some federal workers would not receive back pay, Trump did not offer an explanation.

“You’re gonna have to figure that out. Ask the Democrats that question,” he said, adding: “I follow the law. And what the law says is correct.”

CNN has not reviewed the draft White House memo that suggested the furloughed workers need not be paid, and it is not clear how seriously the idea was being considered. Axios was first to report on the draft memo.

The updated memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget contends that the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) has either been misinterpreted or is “deficient,” an administration official confirmed to CNN.

GEFTA has commonly been understood to guarantee that furloughed workers would receive back pay at the conclusion of any future shutdowns.

Trump signed it into law during his first term amid what was then the most recent government shutdown, which ended in late January 2019 after a record 35 days.

Before the law was passed, Congress traditionally approved measures to provide back pay for federal workers affected by shutdowns once lawmakers approved a funding package to reopen the government. But the lack of a guarantee often left workers on edge.

Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed during this shutdown, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. More staffers will continue having to do their jobs but without pay until the impasse is resolved.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t spoken to anyone in the White House about the legal question over whether furloughed workers are entitled to back pay but that both he and Trump want to see them made whole.

However, he acknowledged that “there will be a lot of discussion about that” question as the shutdown drags on.

“There are some legal analysts who are saying that may not be appropriate or necessary,” Johnson said.

But Democratic Sen. Patty Murray called the reported draft memo a “baseless attempt” to scare federal employees.

“The letter of the law is as plain as can be—federal workers, including furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a shutdown,” Murray, who serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote in a post on X.

Partial paychecks come this week for many

Many government employees will start feeling the effects of the shutdown later this week, when their paychecks are a bit smaller since they won’t be paid for the first few days of October. The partial paycheck will be, for many, their last until the shutdown ends.

The existence of the draft memo contrasts with Trump’s comments over the weekend as he told members of the military not to worry about delayed paychecks while visiting one of the largest naval installations in the world to celebrate the US Navy’s 250th birthday.

“I want you to know that despite the current Democrat-induced shutdown, we will get our service members every last penny,” Trump told a large crowd of sailors in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday. “Do not worry about it. It’s all coming, it’s coming, and even more.”

The president also announced support for “across-the-board pay raises for every sailor and service member in the United States Armed Forces.”

Asked for comment on the draft memo, the American Federation of Government Employees said it was inconsistent with guidance that the White House Office of Personnel Management released in late September.

“After the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods,” the guidance said. “Retroactive pay will be provided on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates.”

Everett Kelley, the union’s national president, called the White House’s argument “frivolous” and said it was “an obvious misinterpretation of the law.”

The memo is yet another effort by the Trump administration to “traumatize” the federal workforce, said Max Stier, CEO for the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that focuses on improving the federal government.

Federal workers have had to contend with the president’s efforts to downsize the government and make it harder for civil servants to contest his actions. The administration has shuttered divisions of agencies, stripped workers of their union contracts and pushed staffers to take buyout packages. Even before the shutdown, Trump directed agencies to look into widespread layoffs through “reductions in force,” or RIFs.

“They’re using the shutdown, which shouldn’t be happening anyway, as yet another opportunity to create further trauma,” Stier told CNN. “They’re creating conditions where it makes it very difficult for people who want to fulfill their vision of serving the public to actually do it.”

CNN’s Betsy Klein and Sarah Ferris contributed to this story.

The story and headline have been updated with additional information.

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