Keeping Up with the Speed of Change: The Shutdown and the IRS

          The current state of partial Federal government shutdown has caused great anxiety. Many government employees are unsure of when they will be able to go back to work, others are required to work and do not know when they will see their next paycheck. Thrown into this mix of uncertainty was the announcement on January 7 that the IRS would process individual Tax Returns and provide Tax Refunds as normal.

          The IRS has essentially run on a skeleton crew basis since December 31. They only had enough workers to keep the computers working, handle some criminal investigations, and provide support related to disaster relief. Everyone else had been furloughed and sent home. However, with that announcement many employees have now been ordered back to work (without pay) to handle the normal workload for this time of year. The next day, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) have both filed lawsuits claiming that these actions are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

          The FLSA essentially states that employees are due to be paid the wages that they earn and be paid on time. The lawsuit claims that this applies to government workers being impacted by the shutdown, and that they deserve at least minimum wage plus compensation. Clearly, this situation is far from being resolved. Let’s keep watch and see how things work out, and don’t try to spend the Refund money before you get it.

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