Over 1 Million Employees are Allowed to Join Lawsuit Against Government for 2013 Shutdown

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Summary: The Justice Department has made notice that over 1 million federal employees can join the suit for damages for not receiving pay during the 2013 government shutdown.

Last August U.S. Court of Federal Appeals Chief Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith ruled that the government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when a Congress deadlock resulted in a government shutdown and federal employees did not receive their pay on time. Nevertheless, she did not decide whether federal employees are due damages.

  

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Nevertheless, this Monday, per Campbell-Smith’s requirements, 1 million federal employees have been notified they can join in suing the government. The lawsuit is seeking, $7.25 per hour for work between Oct. 1 and Oct 5, when paychecks were deferred.

“Many workers took months to recover financially from the impact of the government shutdown,” said Heidi Burakiewicz, a lawyer on the D.C. law firm team who are seeking the compensation. “They should not be financially punished for circumstances beyond their control.”

What this ultimately means for the government, other than the compensation, is that the rules of the game could be changed on how Congress instates and manages a partial closure. Playing such a high-stakes games could be even costlier for the government, and new laws might be added so that federal employees get their paychecks on time.

The original claim was brought in October 2013, representing 5,000 federal employees. It is uncertain as of yet how many additional federal employees will join the suit seeking damages.