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Gov't closing personal not political


Airehead

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Due to the government closing, my middle daughter has to work Christmas Day.  She was previously approved for vacation 12/24 through 1/3.  We had plans and were quite happy about our upcoming full family gathering.   Now the government is closed, so she has to work becuase she is in HR with FEMA but she doesn't get paid.    It sucks.  

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I was in the US Air Force for over 24 years and have been a government contractor for almost 20 years. These shutdowns have caused me some grief over the years. This round I'll get paid; however, I won't be able to get into the building where I work. Therefore I'll be working from home which I normally do once a week anyway. On the flip side we have many workers on the contract who can't VPN in. If they can't get into the building to work, they get paid anyway as our contract says that it's up to the government to provide us with a place to work. Thanks taxpayers!

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The government temporary shutdowns seem costly....there is a cost to reboot back to normal because of the administrative stuff, cost to make a shutdown happen and to restart.  Using govn't employees as political pawns is not a way to ask govn't to be efficient. A  business plan is required of govn't leadership and cut certain things permanently, etc.

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My friend works for the feds.  He has scheduled vacation from yesterday through some time into January.  He put in his vacation days, but with the shutdown, all holidays and vacation are "cancelled", so, he is furloughed without pay during his two weeks of vacation/holidays (24th, 25th, and 1st).  Then, when Congress reopens gov't and pays folks retroactively - for not working or working without pay - he will essentially get his vacation days back, receive regular & holiday pay for the time of the shutdown, and then can re-use his vacation days (of which he already struggles to use each year) for another two week vacation. 

Yay for us!  I always enjoy helping him get some extra benefits :D

 

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

My friend works for the feds.  He has scheduled vacation from yesterday through some time into January.  He put in his vacation days, but with the shutdown, all holidays and vacation are "cancelled", so, he is furloughed without pay during his two weeks of vacation/holidays (24th, 25th, and 1st).  Then, when Congress reopens gov't and pays folks retroactively - for not working or working without pay - he will essentially get his vacation days back, receive regular & holiday pay for the time of the shutdown, and then can re-use his vacation days (of which he already struggles to use each year) for another two week vacation. 

Yay for us!  I always enjoy helping him get some extra benefits :D

 

Any guarantee they will get back pay this time?  Not trying to make this political, but just wondering in the current atmosphere.  Need less to say I am glad to be away from all of these games.  I never took vacation at this time of the year.  Always enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere at the lab during the Holidays, and was able to get a lot of work accomplished.

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6 hours ago, shootingstar said:

The government temporary shutdowns seem costly....there is a cost to reboot back to normal because of the administrative stuff, cost to make a shutdown happen and to restart.  Using govn't employees as political pawns is not a way to ask govn't to be efficient. A  business plan is required of govn't leadership and cut certain things permanently, etc.

The cuts in certain govn't areas have been real.  There are some services now outsourced to contract firms. I don't agree with certain things...not massive outsourcing in IT. Customization of software by contractors ….doesn't build internal expertise to maintain those systems.  And then there's the whole issue of personal data in the hands of contractors....it real loss of control for private sector cloud solutions. It's harder to track /audit who is accessing what once it leaves govn't servers.  

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1 hour ago, Dottles said:

By not paying the government employees, he can pay for his wall.  Somebody has to pay for it... because it's not the Mexicans.  Maybe we can get the Canadians to do it?  That should make you feel better. 

The employees have always been paid retroactively in the past.  I don't see anything different this time.

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2 hours ago, Airehead said:

Spoke with MDofA yesterday. She was at work furloughing people.   Her 5 office mates were at home. In the end they will all be paid for the day. She would have preferred being with us. 

This guy - a local government workplace reporter - lays it out pretty well:

For civil servants and for all citizens, these situations eat away at confidence in our political processes and our politicians. Skepticism threatens to become cynicism.

So for many reasons, while shutdowns have small net effect on federal spending, they are indeed costly.

 

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