Federal Employees - have you been through a RIF or govt. shut down?

[Anonymous]

As someone else noted, don't assume you will get retroactively paid like in 1996. It all depends on how Congress decides to handle it. I would assume military would get paid, civilians perhaps not. Even though we got paid, it was not fun. I remember feeling like I was living in a half-baked, irrational country. And the political climate then was about 100 times more rational.

[Anonymous]

I was working during the last one - '95. I remember being very nervous about the possibility of not getting paid, but we were paid retroactively. Some people in my office were declared "essential" and had to come in. One of our supervisors was livid that we all didn't come in! That was irritating. One other thing to remember about the '95 shutdown was right after it was over the blizzard in January '96 hit, so it is hard to remember exactly how long the shutdown was and how long we were out because of the blizzard! I can't believe it's been 15 years.

[Anonymous]

my friends's office is going through a RIF right now - I think 45 jobs (60%) will be cut. Just the last few days HRs have been meeting with them several times already. They're upfront about how many GS13s, 12s etc will remain with very specific qualifications.

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my friends's office is going through a RIF right now - I think 45 jobs (60%) will be cut. Just the last few days HRs have been meeting with them several times already. They're upfront about how many GS13s, 12s etc will remain with very specific qualifications.

I'm curious, what agency is this? If you don't want to be too specific, can you just give a general idea? Eg, is it DoD? A small independent agency? etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was working during the last one - '95. I remember being very nervous about the possibility of not getting paid, but we were paid retroactively. Some people in my office were declared "essential" and had to come in. One of our supervisors was livid that we all didn't come in! That was irritating. One other thing to remember about the '95 shutdown was right after it was over the blizzard in January '96 hit, so it is hard to remember exactly how long the shutdown was and how long we were out because of the blizzard! I can't believe it's been 15 years.

If this happens, could I just go in to work, do my work, and bill the time to my leave account so that I still get paid for the time? (Just lose some leave?)

[Anonymous]

during a RIF, would we accumulate leave and time in service - or is it treated like LWOP??

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

I agree! Airports cant stay open without TSA screeners, SS checks wont get mailed, VA benefits won't be mailed, customs and borders wont be enforced, intelligence won't be reviewed and analyzed, federal crimes wont be investigated and prosecuted, etc.

But . . . dare I say the republicans have moved on to find another target already. First it was illegal immigrants, then it was federal workers, now it is apparently fire fighters, teachers, and police officers who belong to unions.

These people don't represent the middle class. They only represent large corporations. Why on earth does anyone vote for them??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: A shutdown would not be a planned event; it is not a money-saving action. A shutdown would happen, like the last time, if there is no agreement on a budget and no continuing resolution to maintain funding. Then, all of a sudden, there's no authorized funding to maintain government operations and non-essential functions & personnel shut down. In that case, there would be little advance notice. If I remember correctly, last time the budget fight went on for a while and there were extended continuing resolutions for a while, until they reached the breaking point. Once the last continuing resolution expired, without agreement on another one or a final budget, the announcement was made that government was shut down as of the following work day. I don't remember if last time it happened in the middle of the week or if we had a weekend to digest it.

I was at work when we were told the govt shut down and we had to leave, there was no night before announcement. As many PPs have noted, Fed employees did get paid. However, none of our contractors got paid. Lots of people were out a lot of money. The shutdown didn't go too well for Newt Gingrich and Contract for America, so I'm not sure why the Tea Party thinks it's a scenario worth repeating. We were all told it was illegal to donate our time during the shut down.

[Anonymous]

I have survived a RIF. Short timers AND less essential employees go first.

[Anonymous]

If you want to learn more about the RIF rules, the OPM site is very helpful:
http://www.opm.gov/rif/general/rifguide.asp#3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

I agree! Airports cant stay open without TSA screeners, SS checks wont get mailed, VA benefits won't be mailed, customs and borders wont be enforced, intelligence won't be reviewed and analyzed, federal crimes wont be investigated and prosecuted, etc.

But . . . dare I say the republicans have moved on to find another target already. First it was illegal immigrants, then it was federal workers, now it is apparently fire fighters, teachers, and police officers who belong to unions.

These people don't represent the middle class. They only represent large corporations. Why on earth does anyone vote for them??

More recently the funding extension for the Transportation Act didn't happen and not only were many USDOT employees out (espeically at the Federal Highway Administration), anyone performing work on contracts using those funds was sent a stop work order...states, local government, consulants, contractors. Our organization had serveral million dollars placed at risk. Overall, it was tens of billons for $$ that just stopped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

So let me get this straight--you think you're useless and overpaid? And you're hoping retirees and children don't get the money they need to live?

I'm calling bullshit on this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

So let me get this straight--you think you're useless and overpaid? And you're hoping retirees and children don't get the money they need to live?

I'm calling bullshit on this one.

No s*it Sherlock, the poster was totally tongue-in-cheek on the post. Seriously...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping for a shut down, people forget exactly how much the govt does. It would be nice for retires not to get their checks, children of fallen officers not to get their benefits, vets not to get their medical checks and to be unable to pay their bills, police officers not to pay for life saving vest

We govt employees are so overpayed and useless I'm looking for some nice time off.

So let me get this straight--you think you're useless and overpaid? And you're hoping retirees and children don't get the money they need to live?

I'm calling bullshit on this one.

Awww. You're not smart are you?