What Are Some Work Ideas for furloughed Government workers? (Washington: 2013, attorney)

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by Abraham Walker

It's over for the next 3 weeks.

Curious to see how federal employees react to the instability of working for the government. I'd bet that most people go on about their lives, other people will start to reduce their spending and increase their reserves, while other people leave federal government jobs.

Well I'l say it again. At least they will be paid in full. In fact for time not actually working. More like extra vacation time/with pay.

My Wife works for private Federal Government contractor. No back pay for her. No vacation. Does that sound like a better deal?

[Flamingo13]

There were quite a few that did, in fact, have to work during that time for no pay - it wasn't a "vacation"!

[personone]

Originally Posted by Abraham Walker

It's over for the next 3 weeks.

Curious to see how federal employees react to the instability of working for the government. I'd bet that most people go on about their lives, other people will start to reduce their spending and increase their reserves, while other people leave federal government jobs.

My guess is that they will have some sort of financial plan in place before every potential shutdown (I.e a strategy around what bills to pay first, ensuring some amount of savings they need to weather the storm, etc). They will need to be prepared every 2-3 months (in this case they only have 3 weeks to prepare), since they usually just pass CRs for an extended period of time. The majority of the government lucked out in that they passed the full year's budget this past September, so they didn't have to endure this, but that was rare.

I think the worst part about working for the government is the humiliation and helplessness that happens around shutdown time. No matter what level you are, you know you are being used as a pawn for political purposes and are helpless. It's played out in front of the nation through the media, which is humiliating. That is why I wouldn't want to work for the federal government, but other people have worked their whole careers there, and really love their jobs/missions.

I imagine that for career feds, most are not very marketable/competitive for non-government private sector jobs, since many government jobs are very specialized based on their agency and many are heavily administrative. So it's not always easy to completely jump ship. That is why many turned to looking at substitute teaching opportunities when there was concern that the shutdown could last for months (if not longer). Unless you have a specialized license that is transferable across sectors (CPA, MD/other health care provider, etc) or are actually conducting meaningful research that could get you an academic position; breaking into well-paying jobs in the private sector/academics is not easy.

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

There were quite a few that did, in fact, have to work during that time for no pay - it wasn't a "vacation"!

So you say they will never be paid? And most were on "Vacation".

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by lovnova

Well I'l say it again. At least they will be paid in full. In fact for time not actually working. More like extra vacation time/with pay.

My Wife works for private Federal Government contractor. No back pay for her. No vacation. Does that sound like a better deal?

So because she is not getting paid then we should not either? It sucks she's not getting paid but we did not ask for this time off. We were forced off and I certainly never saw this time as a vacation. I was actually job hunting as I do not want to go through anymore of these. My health is also dictating I find a less strenuous job so it all just come together.

[Piney Creek]

Originally Posted by lovnova

My Wife works for private Federal Government contractor. No back pay for her. No vacation. Does that sound like a better deal?

Sounds like she got a terrible deal. As did most of the furloughed workers I knew. Getting back to the topic of this thread, the one silver lining of all this has been knowing which companies stepped forward to help out during a time like this. You can bet I will thank them by giving them my business.

[back2MD]

Originally Posted by Piney Creek

Sounds like she got a terrible deal. As did most of the furloughed workers I knew. Getting back to the topic of this thread, the one silver lining of all this has been knowing which companies stepped forward to help out during a time like this. You can bet I will thank them by giving them my business.

There should be some type of protection for Fed contractors, not everyone has dual income

35 day hit, 2 missed paychecks with no retro pay is huge for single income families. It’s a true injustice.

Hopefully Trump and his cronies will be locked up by 2/15/2019

[lovnova]

Originally Posted by Piney Creek

Sounds like she got a terrible deal. As did most of the furloughed workers I knew. Getting back to the topic of this thread, the one silver lining of all this has been knowing which companies stepped forward to help out during a time like this. You can bet I will thank them by giving them my business.

Yea, lets just shuffle all the private folks under the rug. They don't need any help.

[Piney Creek]

Originally Posted by back2MD

There should be some type of protection for Fed contractors, not everyone has dual income

Definitely agree. There was plenty of needless suffering with those workers, too. Most of the resources and events listed in this thread were available to them, right? At least some were (the ones that I'm familiar with at any rate). I'm pretty sure most of the dinners, etc. out in Loudoun were available to anyone affected by the shutdown, including contractors.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by back2MD

There should be some type of protection for Fed contractors, not everyone has dual income

35 day hit, 2 missed paychecks with no retro pay is huge for single income families. It’s a true injustice.

Hopefully Trump and his cronies will be locked up by 2/15/2019

Not sure what the correlation between the Trump comment and the missed paychecks might be. But I agree on the fed contractors. I was one once and I got paid during a shut down. When I moved to another agency as a contractor I worked during a shut down and got paid. In both cases the company/agency already has the money as they were awarded the contract so we got paid. If I were with a contract company and they left me high and dry I believe I'd be looking elsewhere.