Officially, today (i.e., Oct. 14, marking Columbus Day) remains on the books as a paid federal holiday. But because of the partial government shutdown, only a limited number of federal employees are scheduled to be paid for it.
Even employees deemed “excepted” (or as many feds put it, “essential”) during the shutdown must take today as an unpaid furlough day unless required to report to work, according to Office of Personnel Management instructions (check out pp. 12 and 13). As OPM puts it in a helpful question-and-answer format:
“Q: Will an ‘excepted’ employee who does not work on a holiday that occurs during a shutdown furlough be paid for the holiday?
A: No. An ‘excepted’ employee who does not work on a holiday will be placed in a furloughstatus for the holiday and will not receive pay for a holiday that occurs during a shutdown furlough unless authorized by subsequent legislation.”
How many people are working today is unclear, although the number is presumably pretty small. An OPM spokesman referred the question to the Office of Management and Budget’s press office, which (assuming it’s open) did not immediately reply to an email.
As Federal Times has previously reported, two bills to assure back pay to furloughed federal employees have unanimously passed the House; both are awaiting Senate action.
