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A draft White House memo argues that furloughed federal employees may not be legally entitled to back pay once the government shutdown ends, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday, setting off sharp pushback from unions and lawmakers who say the stance defies federal law.
The memo, first reported by Axios, disputes the widely accepted interpretation of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, which guarantees back pay for all federal workers affected by a lapse in appropriations. The Office of Personnel Management’s own guidance from September reaffirmed that standard, stating that employees “will receive retroactive pay after the shutdown lifts.”
But the White House memo reportedly contends that a 2019 amendment — which says pay must come “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse” — requires Congress to explicitly approve the money before back pay can be issued.
That reading appears to contradict the text of the law, which says: “Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse.”
The memo’s emergence comes as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans push Democrats to back a GOP-authored continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government at current levels. With the shutdown stretching into its second week, both the House and Senate remain deadlocked over short-term funding.
Asked whether furloughed workers will receive pay, Trump told reporters, “I would say it depends on who we’re talking about. 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.”
A previous version of a White House “frequently asked questions” page — archived by the Wayback Machine — explicitly cited the 2019 law and stated that all affected workers “will be paid retroactively.” That language was later deleted, with the updated version making no mention of furloughed workers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he had not discussed the matter with the president but added, “I hope that the furloughed workers receive back pay, of course. We have some extraordinary Americans who serve the federal government.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appeared unaware of the 2019 law, saying, “I don’t know exactly what the law says, but I’m assuming they’re looking at it. It’s a non-issue. Open the government, people will get paid.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents roughly 750,000 federal workers, sharply condemned the memo. “The livelihoods of the patriotic Americans serving their country in the federal government are not bargaining chips in a political game,” said union president Everett Kelley.
Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing to include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies in any temporary spending package. The Senate on Monday rejected both Republican and Democratic funding proposals, and the House is not scheduled to reconvene until Oct. 14 — leaving federal workers uncertain about their next paycheck.
