President Trump on Wednesday quietly signed a law guaranteeing that federal employees on furlough during the government shutdown will receive back pay once the shutdown has ended. The White House announced the move in a brief statement, noting that the “Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019” “requires the compensation of government employees for wages lost, work performed, or leave used during a lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018, and entitles excepted employees to use leave during a lapse in appropriations.” This law only applies to workers who have not been on the job since the shutdown began; workers who have been required to work to keep the country afloat were already guaranteed back pay. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) lauded the bill on Twitter when it passed the Senate last Friday, but noted that “as hundreds of thousands of federal employees get a paycheck for $0 today, they cannot afford to wait. Time to end the shutdown!”
