OMB has said that the back pay provided by the shutdown-ending law—both for those who were furloughed and those who remained on the job in unpaid status—will be paid with employees’ next pay distributions. For the largest group, that is due Friday when DoD and other agencies – including VA, Energy, EPA and HHS — whose payroll is handled by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service get paid. Other big payroll providers are due to make payments on the 29th and 31st–however, at least one agency, SSA, is making a special partial distribution this week, a week ahead of its regular schedule. The payments will cover back pay for varying periods, depending on how payroll cycles meshed with the October 1-16 shutdown dates. They will reflect deductions that would have been taken out for taxes, insurance, retirement, TSP investing and other standard payroll withholdings. FERS employees further will get make-up agency contributions toward their TSP accounts, but lost earnings will not be made up. Employees who did not have a pay period’s worth of leave credited during the shutdown because they had been in non-pay, non-duty status for 10 days this year will receive that credit retroactively, too.
