The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) walked back previous guidance indicating furloughed employees would receive back pay during the government shutdown Thursday, writing that an agency under the president would provide further information.
“An earlier memo circulated on furlough guidance incorrectly stated the nature of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 as it relates to compensation for non-pay and non-duty status,” the IRS wrote Thursday on the social media platform X.
The message then referred to the Office of Management and Budget, an agency under the White House. “OMB will provide further guidance on this issue, you will be updated accordingly,” the IRS wrote.
The IRS and OMB did not respond to a request for comment.
The Thursday message — which Federal News Network reported also circulated as a notice to employees — follows an OMB draft memo that indicates federal workers may not be entitled to backpay during their forced time off due to the government shutdown.
The memo, first reported Tuesday by Axios, raises the possibility the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) of 2019 doesn’t automatically guarantee back pay to furloughed federal workers,
Instead, the memo suggests that workers’ back pay is “subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.”
The IRS released guidance in conflict with the memo on Wednesday, asserting GEFTA “requires” federal employees to be paid during a government shutdown if they are furloughed or forced to work.
“Although you will be placed in non-pay and non-duty status during the furlough, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 requires employees of the federal government who are furloughed or required to work during a lapse in appropriations to be compensated for the period of the lapse,” the IRS notice reads.
“The employees must be compensated on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates,” it reads. “Employees required to work during the lapse in appropriations may use leave.”
An anonymous IRS employee told the Federal News Network that the Wednesday notice had been automatically deleted from their inboxes by Thursday.
GEFTA was passed under the first Trump administration after a 35-day shutdown that stretched from late 2018 to early 2019.
Following the release of the memo, President Trump suggested some workers would receive back pay while others may not.
“But for the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump said. “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of. And we’ll take care of them in a different way.”
