Hundreds of thousands of federal employees deemed “essential” during the 2013 government shutdown will be able to join a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the government, a judge for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims decided.
The lawsuit began when a small group of federal employees sued the government on Oct. 24, 2013. Their argument: For the pay period that began Sept. 22 and ended Oct. 5, 2013, the federal government paid for only one week, which put many employees below minimum wage during the second week.
Even though employees were later paid for that work, they suffered losses from the initial shorted paycheck. Federal employees were unable to pay bills on time and had to deal with creditors and should be eligible for additional damages as a result, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are asking for damages equal to the minimum wage for one week plus double the amount of overtime any employee worked — or $290 or more per employee.
On July 31, Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims refused a government motion to dismiss the lawsuit and agreed the government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by delaying paychecks. Now the court has ruled that essential workers can join in the lawsuit.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be notified of their right to join the lawsuit in early 2015. Federal employees will not be able to recover any damages unless they join the lawsuit.
“Many workers took months to recover financially from the impact the shutdown had on their lives. They had to deplete savings, beg creditors for extended deadlines and accept late charges on bills,” said counsel Heidi Burakiewicz, a partner at Mehri and Skalet, PLLC, which is handling the case. “We’re so pleased that all of those affected will have the opportunity to receive the compensation they deserve to make up for hardships caused by the government’s own dysfunction and outright violation of the law.”
The government shutdown — when Congress was unable to pass appropriations bills or a continuing resolution before the beginning of the fiscal year — lasted from Oct. 1 to Oct. 16.■
