Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are set to receive reduced paychecks, now on day 10 of the partial government shutdown.
While most civilian federal employees are expected to get their paychecks sometime in the next couple days, they’ll only take home the pay they earned up until the shutdown began. Regardless of whether they are excepted or furloughed, federal employees will not be paid for any days worked between Oct. 1 and Oct. 4 — the final few days of the most recent two-week pay period.
With the partial paychecks, many federal employees will lose out on hundreds of dollars. The exact timing of when employees receive their paychecks depends on their agency, but many began going out Friday.
It’s also the last paycheck excepted and furloughed employees will receive until the government shutdown ends. The first fully missed paycheck, if the shutdown continues, will be for the pay period of Oct. 5 through Oct. 18. Only federal employees who are considered “exempt” from the shutdown will continue to be paid as usual.
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Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said many federal employees on the lower end of the General Schedule struggle to miss even a single paycheck.
“Federal employees make 25% less than private sector workers doing the exact same jobs,” Erwin said. “We got a lot of folks out in the Forest Service, Park Service and other low paid GS-3s making $32,000 a year. They can’t afford to go without pay for any period of time.”
“Our federal civil servants perform critical work for the public, including helping keep us safe,” Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Max Stier said Friday. “They shouldn’t bear the financial burden created by the failures of our elected officials. The irony is that members of Congress and senior White House leaders are continuing to be paid.”
“These are working Americans that have families that live paycheck to paycheck, that have to pay bills, have to put food on the table,” International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers President Matt Biggs said Wednesday at a union-led press conference. “Denying them a paycheck is simply cruel.”
Some credit unions and other private companies are offering zero-interest hardship loans to federal employees impacted by the shutdown.
The payment timeline is different for military members, whose next scheduled payday is Oct. 15. If the shutdown continues, service members, Defense Department civilians and Coast Guard personnel will miss out on their paychecks next week.
Ahead of the scheduled payday for military members, House Democrats urged Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring lawmakers back in session early next week to pass the Pay Our Troops Act. The legislation would ensure continued pay and benefits for armed services departments, including the Coast Guard, civilian employees and contractors during a shutdown.
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“You have 2 million federal civilian workers and 1.3 million active-duty military service members who are now going to be harmed,” Johnson said during a press conference Friday. “It is very damaging, and it is outrageous to us — the Democrats are playing games so they can appease their base.”
“We’re ready, willing and able to sit down with our Republican colleagues … reopen the government, pay our troops, pay our hardworking federal employees, and enact a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Friday.
Federal unions have expressed growing frustration at lawmakers, while hearing from federal employees who they say remain caught in the middle of heightening political battles.
“Congress, do your damn job and pass a budget that’s going to require a little compromise,” Erwin said. “If you don’t have a bill, you haven’t done your job.”
The shutdown also impacts wages for federal contract workers, who do not get paid during a funding lapse. Although federal employees are provided retroactive pay after a shutdown due to a 2019 law, federal contractors currently aren’t extended that same guarantee.
A Democratic bill introduced last week seeks to ensure that all federal contract employees receive back pay once the shutdown ends.
Lawmakers who introduced the legislation said missing paychecks can be particularly harmful to janitorial, food and security services workers under federal contracts. Many are staffed at federal facilities, such as Smithsonian museums, that are shuttered for the duration of a shutdown.
“These are often lower-wage jobs, with many workers living paycheck to paycheck,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said. “These workers can’t afford to go without, and they shouldn’t have to.”
But for many federal employees, the current shutdown brings uncertainty beyond missing paychecks. The Trump administration’s threats of conducting reductions in force and withholding back pay from furloughed employees have only amplified since the shutdown started.
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On Friday, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought warned on social media platform X that “RIFs have begun.” An OMB spokesperson confirmed that federal employee layoffs are underway and are “substantial.”
At the time of publication, Federal News Network has confirmed RIFs are occurring at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11
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