In my nearly-17-year career with the federal government, I have now experienced shutdowns both as an “excepted” employee (required to work through it but not paid until it’s over) and a furloughed employee. A colleague asked me which one is harder, from my perspective.
They both suck. They suck differently, but they suck. Let’s break it down.
As an excepted employee, you must show up to work every day. Your back pay is guaranteed, but you won’t get paid for your work until the shutdown ends and payroll is processed. The civil servants who are excepted are often on front-line jobs: weather forecasters, NASA mission staff, TSA security workers, even the Coast Guard. Most of them serve public safety in some way or another. A shutdown asks them to work in a limited “business-as-usual” form, doing their primary functions but often barred from taking training, conducting research, working on special projects, or traveling.
Excepted employees are told that if they take leave, they will be placed in furlough status. Different agencies, managers, and shutdowns handle the status differently. Sometimes, the excepted employees are told they cannot return to work status once they take furlough; other times, they may flex between the two. Guidance in advance is never clear, and excepted employees are advised to cancel leave. Should they take their leave and move into furlough status, their predicament matches their furloughed colleagues.
Furloughed employees are not allowed to come to their buildings, check their emails, or conduct any work activities, even from home. They may not conduct work-related activities, including speaking at conferences or taking training, on their personal time if the work would have been a part of their “on the clock” duties. Their back pay is not guaranteed, though in every shutdown prior to the Great Shutdown of 2018-2019, their backpay has been approved. It does require an act passed by both the House and the Senate, then signed by the President. The behavior of both the recent Congress and the recent President has not always matched precedent, so until this bill is signed, furloughed employees live in a world of uncertainty about their pay.
Both excepted and furloughed employees carry added emotional and mental burdens. Excepted employees face working only some parts of their jobs, with inconsistent guidance about what they may or may not do while working. They feel unappreciated. They are frustrated because they are not eligible for unemployment due to their work status, nor do they typically have time to pursue other paying work because they are still reporting for their jobs.
Furloughed employees feel dismissed and marginalized, sometimes even by their own colleagues. They usually support mission-critical functions, though perhaps in a less immediate role than their excepted colleagues, but are signaled that their work is not important. They see their excepted colleagues receiving public accolades and food deliveries for their service, and they know they would be happy to be in their colleague’s shoes and helping and maybe eating a little more if they only were allowed. Many face steep work and learning curves when they return to duties that have piled up in their absence, causing stress both during the shutdown and afterwards that can linger for months or longer. Their uncertainty about pay status can be particularly troubling.
So, let’s be clear. Being excepted is not just “business as usual,” and being furloughed is not a “paid vacation.” They are burdensome and stressful, and both detract from the mission of the agencies and needs of the citizens that these civil servants serve. Nobody wins. Nobody is worse, and nobody is better. But, and this cannot be emphasized enough, we are all in it together.