🔗 Share this article

An approximated 750,000 government workers are placed on leave as a result of the initial government closure since 2018.

Many have been "anxious for an extended period," according to a labor attorney who is employed inside a federal department. Now the government leadership is threatening to implement another sweeping wave of cuts to their workforce.

Widespread Impact and Financial Strain

Government closures cause widespread disruption – both to public services and the lives and livelihoods of the staff that typically work to provide these services.

"Numerous individuals in the US are 'one lost payment' away from needing to seek help from a food pantry for support," stated Claire Babineaux-Fontenot. "A prolonged shutdown will deepen the strain, and additional households will seek help at a time when food banks are already stretched due to sustained high need."

The shutdown "hurts federal workers in many ways," the labor attorney said. "We want to be working. We want to be serving the public."

During a closure, many federal workers, particularly those with annual incomes below six figures, are forced to use their reserves, rack up credit-card debt, or secure financing to manage until they receive back pay when the government reopens.

Psychological Toll and Employment Concerns

"And that doesn't even go into all the mental and emotional damage too. We serve as government employees because we are deeply committed to the national administration, and we are passionate about assisting the public," he added. "To be kept from our ability to assist the American public, it hurts."

"And then," the attorney continued, "you add in the concern that we might be terminated."

The present leadership has faced criticism for directing federal agencies to prepare strategies for mass-scale firings in the event of a federal closure. The national leader indicated he would use the pause to "eliminate a lot of elements we didn't want" recently.

The administration has already overseen the biggest voluntary departure in American records this week, with more than 100,000 government employees set to formally quit as part of the most recent phase of its postponed departure initiative.

Agency-Specific Effects and Layoff Programs

Now employees are left wondering if this shutdown will result in them being out of work temporarily, or set the stage for their permanent termination.

In a memo, the US Patent and Trademark Office announced a "reduction in force" program of layoffs at the department on midweek, the first reported agency to do so.

"Approximately one percent of the USPTO workforce will be impacted by this reduction," wrote Valencia Martin Wallace in a message to employees at the agency.

At the national environmental department, only about seventeen hundred out of 15,000 employees are set to keep working during the shutdown.

"Employees handling essential tasks will be placed on leave and potentially RIF'ed," said an environmental engineer who advocates for thousands of EPA workers. "We may be recalled for emergencies, but the workers who do the work which avoids these crises will remain incomplete."

Broader Concerns and Legal Challenges

Even employees who are still working, for the present moment, are preparing for potential layoffs amid the closure.

"We still are yet again finding, as government workers, a degree of worry as our livelihoods being employed as leverage, being used in this showdown between administration officials and the working class," said a corps of engineers employee who represents 300 staff members. "There are attempts to impose these significant alterations on the shoulders of the government functions public employees provide and our communities depend on."

The leadership projects it will reduce the federal workforce by about three hundred thousand workers by the end of the year.

Much of these reductions have not yet appeared in employment statistics, which will not be published due to the closure. As of August, federal employment is down nearly one hundred thousand positions.

The previous closure started in December 2018 and lasted 35 days, until early 2019, costing the US economy an estimated $11bn, according to congressional analysts.

Kirwan suggested the national administration, since the current administration assumed power, has already effectively been operating under a limited closure, with about an eighth of the federal workforce eliminated, several agencies disbanded and programs eliminated.

"We oppose a closure, but we understand that the primary concern is standing up against additional damage through our programs," he said. "More and more harm has been happening every individual month to services that are essential and that many millions of Americans depend on."

Worker organizations filed a legal action on this week over the firing threats, alleging the action is illegal and an effort to penalize employees and influence legislators.

"Announcing plans to fire possibly many thousands of government workers merely due to Congress and the administration are at odds on government financing past the end of the fiscal year is not only against the law – it's unethical and unacceptable," said Everett Kelley in a declaration. "Government workers commit their professional lives to civil service – more than a third are armed forces alumni – and the disrespect being shown them by this administration is appalling."