Chris Wattie/Reuters
Three Border Protection agents have joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration over unpaid work due to the government shutdown, The Washington Post reports. The National Treasury Employees Union first filed the lawsuit alleging that tens of thousands of its members were being forced to work without pay on Tuesday, with one Border Protection agent included as a plaintiff. On Wednesday, two more agents had been added to the suit, with Customs and Border Protection officers Eleazar Avalos and James Davis now joining fellow CBP officer Albert Vieira. The lawsuit reportedly cites acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s warning earlier this week that “payroll will not go out as originally planned” if the shutdown continued after midnight on Tuesday. NTEU president Tony Reardon called the shutdown a “travesty” for employees deemed essential, or those who are required to work without receiving compensation. “Federal employees should not have to pay the personal price for all of this dysfunction,” Reardon was quoted as saying by the Post.