Furloughed Contractors -- Is your company paying you?

[Anonymous]

Just curious if federal contracting companies are paying their folks or taking alternative measures. What is your company doing? Are you not being paid? Do you have to take vacation, or make up the hours later? Or training?

[Anonymous]

I am working on a contract that still has FY13 funds to cover work that we are working on. We have been told that we can continue working for the short term. As the FY13 funds are consumed, if the shutdown continues, they will reevaluate which staff to retain and which to furlough. If we get furloughed, we do not get paid. While there is still some chance the the civil servants will get back-pay, there is zero chance that any contractor will get back-pay for furloughed days.

[Anonymous]

Contractor here....I was not "furloughed", but a computer problem requires a furloughed worker to fix (I do not have permissions to fix it). So, I was sent home. I have a choice: I can make up the hours, take vacation, or LWOP (leave without pay).

Not happy.

[Anonymous]

DH was offered leave without pay, or paid time off.
Then there was a complete reversal this morning and they told him he was "essential" after all, which means he works from home AND gets paid - sweet! We are in the process of recovering from a recent job hiatus, so this is a welcome break. We had not rebuilt our emergency fund yet.

[Anonymous]

We can use our paid time off (PTO) or leave without pay. It's great to have choices, I guess.

[Anonymous]

How are you all making the PTO vs LWOP decision? I have several months of savings so money isn't a huge concern at least immediately, but should I be using PTO instead (I have about 90 hrs banked).

[Anonymous]

Right now -- on my site -- all contractors are coming in as normal; all govvies are furloughed.

I suspect we'll get hours reduced if this drags on, although we did get an extension signed on our contract until April.

Folks working other contracts -- either getting furloughed or working on essential contracts.

Internal folks working at company HQ are getting furloughed I believe.

Given that they've slashed raises, slashed PTO, slashed 401k matching and cut another holiday (down to 8) ... nah, they ain't going to give us back pay.

[Anonymous]

Contractors in my office are taking personal leave for these days off. It sucks for them.

[Anonymous]

What we were told - if your contract has money and you are not in a government building, you work and get paid.

If your contract has money and you work in a government building, either you are out of luck or go to another building and work if you can.

If your contract has no money or you cannot work at another building, you take PTO or LWP. No back pay.

No raises the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Our company is giving time for training and other activities this week. Next week we have to start using PTO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Furloughed Contractors -- Is your company paying you?

Ba-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Uh. No.

[Anonymous]

Our company is requiring pro be used. They will not allow us to use lwop

[Anonymous]

This week, we are being forced/suggested/requested to take PTO. I'm OK with it because I had 100 hours banked up, but I feel for my newer colleagues who recently joined the company and have to go down to zero, or into the red (they are allowed get an advance on some PTO).

Our HR team is re-assessing the policy if the shut down continues into next week, and I'm guessing that they will add the option of taking unpaid leave into the equation. If they do that, I will probably stagger my days off between PTO and unpaid.

[Anonymous]

Still have funding in my contract until February. However, if our office (federal building) gets closed, I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to telework or if I'll be forced into PTO/LWOP yet.

Frustrating to not know, but at least right now I'm being paid.

[Anonymous]

My husband is using PTO. The contractors are the forgotten and unloved in this fight. They are the ones getting screwed over. It's scary because the general public lumps all government employees together and assumes they are all getting back pay and thus a paid vacation through this shutdown.