Official Government Shutdown 2023 Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oct 2 is the monday when an "orderly shutdown" process would start. which may involve folks having to take their laptops and phones back to the office?

i honestly have no idea how this will work in practice.

Can we text coworkers from our work phones?

We are not allowed to use any government-provided equipment or even check email from our own private phones. Our supervisors already circulated a call-list to get current contact info to inform employees when the shutdown begins and ends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry what day will this unpaid vacation begin, if it does?

Aren’t you always paid back?

Yes, but it can still be very hard to miss a paycheck. Or two. Especially for lower paid people. Not getting paid for a whole month is tough to swing outside of DCUM-land.

[Anonymous]

Our agency shuts off access to work emails and we are instructed not to use work phone or laptop for anything, even if not work related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our agency shuts off access to work emails and we are instructed not to use work phone or laptop for anything, even if not work related.

This is good info. This would be my first government shutdown as a civil servant, and my kids' schools all have my work cell as the primary number. Guess I should change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oct 2 is the monday when an "orderly shutdown" process would start. which may involve folks having to take their laptops and phones back to the office?

i honestly have no idea how this will work in practice.

Can we text coworkers from our work phones?

We were on no use of work equipment, full stop. My manager texted my personal phone with RTO info. If you have someone you want to keep up with, meet for coffee and gripe, etc, get personal test and or email.

[Anonymous]

Am i allowed to work elsewhere during the pandemic (ex uber or doordash)? I have some big trips planned for next year and would like to supplement if i have the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our agency shuts off access to work emails and we are instructed not to use work phone or laptop for anything, even if not work related.

This is good info. This would be my first government shutdown as a civil servant, and my kids' schools all have my work cell as the primary number. Guess I should change that.

I’m sure it varies agency to agency. But, in general, it’s not a bad idea for feds to separate work and personal communication. Two phones, texts emails, even if everything gets forwarded to one device. Everything on a work device is fair game for monitoring by your employer, the government. Hard pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am i allowed to work elsewhere during the pandemic (ex uber or doordash)? I have some big trips planned for next year and would like to supplement if i have the time.

you have to clear secondary employment with ethics. should start that process now if you want to pursue that.

[Anonymous]

If the shutdown happens on Oct. 1, it will be in the middle of a pay period (for many feds). Does anyone know if feds on that pay schedule will be paid for the first week of the pay period now (as opposed to after the shutdown)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a call this morning, the approps people at my office were acting like we could be shutdown more than a month.

+1 I wasn’t here for the Clinton shutdowns. But our agency is acting like this will be worse than the Trump Shutdown. Our folks sound like “…”. As in, they can’t even take a stab at how long. I head the word indefinite. Not as in never reopen. But as in, they don’t know of a weekend shutdown gets it done or a quarter is serious.

And Kevin McCarthy isn’t helping them out. He can’t control his caucus and does not want the shutdown. You ask him, we have a CR and no shutdown. We are kind of falling into a shutdown by default. And no one knows who will make the decision to reopen. Because the House is the problem and no one knows who is in charge of the House. That’s a huge problem. Before, it was, when will Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Trump, etc cave. Here we have, when will they know who is in charge? You can’t negotiate with 435 people, or even 220, and there is no “the buck stops here” person, like Pelosi was.

I think the level above me is in low key panic because end of fiscal year, plus no ability to game plan a shutdown.

Just want to say that we're always in low key panic mode the last two weeks of September. We haven't even started discussing the shutdown.

Same with where I am.

Plus so many of us have been through this so many times in the past, sometimes a shutdown has happened, most of the times it didn't -- even when we were sure it would and spent a lot of time working on it, naming essential personnel, sending out procedural emails, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our agency shuts off access to work emails and we are instructed not to use work phone or laptop for anything, even if not work related.

This is good info. This would be my first government shutdown as a civil servant, and my kids' schools all have my work cell as the primary number. Guess I should change that.

I’m sure it varies agency to agency. But, in general, it’s not a bad idea for feds to separate work and personal communication. Two phones, texts emails, even if everything gets forwarded to one device. Everything on a work device is fair game for monitoring by your employer, the government. Hard pass.

+1. Provide your personal cell number, personal email address, etc. to the schools. And anything else of a personal nature. Keep your work cell for official business only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the shutdown happens on Oct. 1, it will be in the middle of a pay period (for many feds). Does anyone know if feds on that pay schedule will be paid for the first week of the pay period now (as opposed to after the shutdown)?

It will be paid after the shutdown ends. No one will be there to process your payroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the shutdown happens on Oct. 1, it will be in the middle of a pay period (for many feds). Does anyone know if feds on that pay schedule will be paid for the first week of the pay period now (as opposed to after the shutdown)?

It will be paid after the shutdown ends. No one will be there to process your payroll.

We were told today that we would get a partial paycheck to cover the 1st week worked in the pay period, but nothing after that till it’s all over.

[Anonymous]

I have plane tickets for a weekend trip (planned 8 months ago) over Columbus/Indigenous Peoples weekend. Since I never traveled during past shutdowns, what is the likelihood of ATC and TSA working? (Not that any of us have crystal ball.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the shutdown happens on Oct. 1, it will be in the middle of a pay period (for many feds). Does anyone know if feds on that pay schedule will be paid for the first week of the pay period now (as opposed to after the shutdown)?

It will be paid after the shutdown ends. No one will be there to process your payroll.

We were told today that we would get a partial paycheck to cover the 1st week worked in the pay period, but nothing after that till it’s all over.

If I recall, in 2013 we did get a partial paycheck during the shutdown, but it might vary by agency.