Government Furloughs Likelier For Federal Workers, Midnight Deadline Looms

As shutdown talk increases, government furloughs are being anticipated by a large number of federal workers — who are determining how best to handle a number of days with no pay.

In a federal shutdown, government furloughs will affect hundreds of thousands of Uncle Sam’s workers, with a few agencies for certain on the chopping block in the event of a closure. By midnight tonight, the scores of workers affected are expected to have an idea of whether the furloughs will affect their pay this week, and whether to report to work Tuesday.

According to Yahoo, a number of agencies will be affected by initial furloughs, with some standard services going offline:

“Here’s a list of departments and services that will be affected: National Park Service sites will most likely be closed; visa and passport applications will go unprocessed; veterans and military benefits will be delayed; bankruptcy cases will be suspended; payments to federal jurors will be deferred; and some health research services won’t be available.”

However, some more crucial services such as law enforcement and border control won’t be affected by government furloughs, and similarly, health and safety will be by and large open and operational.

CNN reports that these essential services will be in effect, and that even the furloughed workers are likely to eventually be paid — though the details are not yet clear or certain:

“Those who will likely be told to report to work have critical jobs necessary to protect life and property, like active military, food inspectors and federal hospital workers. That group also includes elected lawmakers and most political appointees… They are expected to be given back pay after Congress passes a budget bill.”

If government furloughs move ahead as anticipated, officials close to the matter admit that those in charge of eventual pay have been “noncommittal” over whether the workers will be compensated as they have been in past shutdowns.

Due to the sequester earlier this year, government furloughs have already cost some workers as much as six days of pay in 2013, and a subsequent shutdown could compound the pain.