Federal workers still on the job have a new worry: Taking a day off during the shutdown
The US Capitol building is seen in the background as a man rides a bike along the street on October 1.
By Tami Luhby, René Marsh, CNN
(CNN) — One essential Social Security employee didn’t foresee her surgery being upended by the federal government shutdown when she scheduled it for early October.
But the longtime manager decided to postpone the procedure, which would have required her to take two weeks off to recover, fearing that she could lose her job if she was absent from work.
That’s because taking sick leave during the shutdown would result in her being furloughed for those days. What’s more, the furlough notice would be filed under “disciplinary and adverse actions” in her employee record — an unprecedented categorization during a funding lapse, according to a Social Security union leader and outside experts in government service. (CNN has viewed the agency’s FAQ instructing supervisors to store furlough notices under that designation.)
Between that potential black mark and the general sense of anxiety pervading her office, the employee said she felt, “This is not the time. I could not take a chance on having weeks of furlough and being laid off.”
Essential workers at several federal agencies said they are worried about taking time off or are being told that requests for leave would not be granted during the shutdown, which began on October 1 after Congress failed to agree to a federal spending package. It’s adding to the insecurity they have felt all year as the Trump administration overhauls and downsizes the federal workforce.
A government shutdown is often stressful both for both furloughed employees, who are not allowed to work, and for certain essential staffers, who must still report for duty, because neither group is paid until after the shutdown ends. But this impasse is even more fraught because President Donald Trump is threatening federal workers’ jobs and their ability to get back pay.
The administration has already issued reductions in force, or RIF, notices to about 4,100 federal workers over the past week — a move that a federal judge paused on Wednesday, declaring it unlawful — and has warned it will lay off thousands more during the shutdown. Plus, Trump has called into question a 2019 law that guarantees that furloughed workers will receive retroactive compensation once the government reopens, though lawmakers remain far from reaching a deal.
One employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs told CNN that his supervisor asked him if he was sure he wanted to take his preapproved time off during the shutdown, a question he’d never been asked before and one that put him on edge. He thought about canceling his vacation, but decided not to, despite being unsure whether he’ll be paid for those days and whether his absence will jeopardize his career.
“I’m mad, so I’m just going to take it off,” he said — though the uncertainty casts a shadow over his vacation.
While it’s standard for essential employees to be listed as furloughed for the hours or days they miss work during an impasse, that designation is more risky now, workers said.
“It shows who the agency can run without,” the Social Security manager said.
Asked about categorizing furlough notices as “disciplinary and adverse action,” a Social Security Administration spokesperson said, “SSA has followed its standard practice for how it manages furlough activities during a government lapse in appropriation, including how we provide notice to staff on their furlough status and where we have always stored the notices in our personnel records.”
Mixed messages on leave
Internal Revenue Service employees in Atlanta have received “conflicting guidance from managers about whether essential workers could take scheduled leave or medical time off,” Denise Wells-Gomez, National Treasury Employees Union chapter president, told CNN.
Messages viewed by CNN instructed essential staff that vacation or sick leave could not be used and that any absence, even for surgeries or medical procedures, would be treated as AWOL (absent without leave).
One internal message from managers to staff, viewed by CNN, warned that they could be terminated if employees weren’t present the day they decide to do an audit.
However, during a staff meeting, the director of the IRS Atlanta office appeared unaware this guidance was being circulated and clarified that essential workers could still take leave if it was approved by their manager. Despite that, employees continued receiving instructions that “no exceptions” would be allowed.
Meanwhile, at the VA, a regional director informed staffers that they could take leave that had already been approved before the shutdown, but no new leave would be authorized, the agency employee told CNN. The worker’s supervisor said the same thing.
The IRS and VA did not return requests for comment.
Multiple employees in different Social Security offices have told Joel Smith, their union representative, that their supervisors have said that if they don’t show up for work, they could be let go. Having their furlough notices filed as a disciplinary action — which he said has not happened in the past — is compounding their concerns.
“People are feeling they have to choose between their job and their health,” said Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3184, which represents about 6,000 Social Security workers in offices across the South and Southwest.
Taking a day off during a shutdown is not dishonorable, said Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that focuses on improving the federal government.
Having it “be a black mark on your record is, as they say, piling mistreatment upon mistreatment, and, to my knowledge, has never been done before,” he said.
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