The US government shut down on 01 October for the first time in six years after Congressional Democrats refused to pass a Republican backed spending bill unless they extended Obamacare subsidies and other concessions on healthcare. Image: Gent Shkullaku/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
President Trump and various officials of his administration continue to make threats of widespread layoffs in federal agency functions affected by the federal funding lapse, with federal employees and their unions watching for signs of those threats turning into reality.
As the partial government shutdown enters its second week, officials have said RIFs are imminent and Trump has called the funding lapse an “unprecedented opportunity” to pare down or eliminate government functions not high on his list of priorities. That has been done for example through the cancellation of some funding grants.
However, to date threats of RIFs largely have not materialized—except reportedly for a small portion of the USPTO workforce—as that prospect has become part of the political pressuring between the two parties as each seeks to shape public opinion over which is responsible for the lapse.
Ahead of the lapse, OMB told agencies to use the lapse as an opportunity to send RIF notices to all employees in affected functions, regardless of whether they are furloughed or kept at work unpaid. Once funding is restored, they are to cancel those notices—which typically give a 60-day warning—for a minimum number of employees needed to fulfill legal requirements and allow the remainder to take effect.
Later OPM guidance told agencies that they could keep employees who otherwise would be furloughed on the job to carry out the planning needed to conduct RIFs.
The AFGE union and others have filed a lawsuit against using a shutdown as a justification for what they said could be “tens of thousands” of RIFs, over the weekend filing a request for a temporary restraining order asserting that both the OMB and OPM guidance are illegal.
The Justice Department meanwhile has been asking for delays in the numerous other court cases challenging personnel actions, saying that many of its own employees involved in those cases have been furloughed.
Federal employees can challenge RIFs before the MSPB on grounds that required procedures were not followed, although that agency also is shut down and temporarily is not accepting new appeals, even those filed electronically. Deadlines in cases already pending there are being pushed back by the number of days the shutdown lasts.
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