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I personally am not currently affected, but feel badly for the regular joe government workers. How are they supposed to live and pay their bills? It's really unfair to them.
You mean that it is awful that the democrats are using federal workers this way? Right? Right?
I did luck out a little. I had been saving for a large expense...and I have a lot of money saved.I probably could last a year. Bu the thing about these shut downs is there is no way to plan. Every six weeks a shut down is "possible" but doesn't happen.
What are you supposed to do keep a constant large sum of money just sitting around? Everyone who chose Federal Gov't chose it for its consistency. We don't get paid tons of money in the private sector but we have a consistent stable job... until... we don't.
Anyway I am done. I sent out applications to the state this week. I probably won't get the jobs but I have made up my mind. The dems have starved middle America so much they are calling for my money. My small increase in cost of living has been frozen (for no reason) and I bet it is just a matter of time until someone cuts my pension. These are the only reasons people stay working for the gov't.
You never know, your experience as a federal employee may make you attractive, and give you an edge, for one or more of those state jobs for which you are applying.
I wish you the best of luck with all of it, keeping afloat during this shutdown (sounds as though you are well prepared), and with those jobs.
Are people not allowed to worry about more than one person at a time?
Yes, they will eventually get paid. But they're not getting paid now. You think they can just stop paying their bills, rent, mortgage, buying groceries, medication etc... Until they start getting paid again?
Actually when I did my online banking this AM, I saw notices there from the bank announcing that they were willing to help out the federal employees affected by the shutdown. Not freebies, of course, but they listed phone numbers for the various loan departments, credit card department, etc. and instructed the affected personnel to call the applicable numbers for help.
So I would imagine the bank would allow these people to pay either minimum amounts, perhaps just the interest on a mortgage or loan, or even defer payment of a loan for a month or two (depending on the credit worthiness of the individual, I imagine). I imagine there are other banks that are doing the same.
Our local utilities (water and sewer) announced the other day that they were allowing affected federal employees to defer payments of their bills for a time, one just had to contact them and provide proof of federal employment.
Thanks to the extensive coverage (and spin, but that's another discussion) by the news media regarding the guv'mint shutdown, and their playing up the victimization of federal employees either working without pay or furloughed (they weren't interested at all in doing this during the 1995 shutdown when Clinton was president), everyone, including creditors, is aware of the current "plight" of federal employees. So with all the publicity comes numerous offers of help.
I work for the NWS and work thru the shutdowns... For myself and family it is the unknown of when I will get paid. Due to me working during the shutdown, I am by law guaranteed back pay regardless what Congress does. I can miss a pay period or two, but the unknown is the troubling part. What if it lasts into February....I need to contact the mortgage company to see their policy on what is a late payment, etc. If someone said you miss 4 weeks fine.... and your pay starts Feb 1st. That would be fine but will it or not???? That is where anxiety sits in.
In your shoes I'd contact your mortgage lender ASAP, let them know of your plight and ask them if you might perhaps defer a mortgage payment, just pay interest on the loan, or what else they might suggest. It's not as though with the extensive news media coverage of the shutdown they wouldn't be aware of the situation. I see that our bank has already reached out to mortgagees (as well as people with other loans) who are federal employees to make arrangements in the event they're short of money to make their payments. Your mortgage holder may well do the same.
Good luck, and thanks for the good job y'all do at the NWS. Don't know what we would do without you.
Need to clarify a couple of things that a lot of people don't understand and have a very mistaken impression because they don't know the details. The primary reason you don't see many working after hours is it's technically illegal to do so and an employee can be disciplined for it, unlike the private sector where they can be rewarded. Without getting into a lot of details, it basically comes down to Congress appropriates only X amount of dollars for pay. An employee working unapproved overtime would be incurring a bill that Congress has not approved to pay. Management does typically have a little bit of OT in the budget but they reserve that for emergency needs, not everyday work.
There's also not as much telework as people seem to think there is. Much less than the private sector. The only "rude awakenings" I've seen have been when people come over from the private sector, not the other way around. Known quite a few gov folks who've gone to the private sector and none have come back. On the other hand, also known a number of folks who came to gov from the private sector and every one made some statement to the effect "I had no idea …" and a lot didn't last long before going back.
I'm not talking about "claiming" OT. I work in academics/medical center and we do not get any overtime. I am only paid for an 8 hour work day (40 hour work week) , but if I have work to do due to deadlines/etc (which is often), I stay past 5pm to get it done (which is the norm). It is the norm that we all work well over 40 hours/week, knowing that we don't get paid extra, but because that is what it takes for the work to get done. I am blessed to have a very comfortable salary and so I don't mind putting in the hours to justify it because that is what it takes to perform well.
I am sure in the government the legality of that may come into play for some union jobs, but I am not talking about those types of jobs. I'm talking about analysts, program jobs, etc. As I mentioned, I met a few (even a few non-management) who put in serious time (well over the standard 8 hours). None of them mentioned that it was "illegal" and none of their managers had a problem with it. All knew that they were not getting paid for it (and they were not asked by management to do so), but they put in the hours because the work needed to get done. That is the mindset difference between "some" federal government employees and private sector employees.
That is the rude awakening I am talking about if federal employees were able to switch into the private sector (not including government contracting as private sector). For well-paid, upper level positions, you won't be around too long by leaving at 5 pm every day and only putting in a standard 40 hours a week.
I don't say this to degrade federal government workers. I initially mentioned this to demonstrate that this is one of the work-life benefits of working for the federal government that you don't always find in the private sector/academics.
As I said before, the local economy is beginning to feel the pinch of the shutdown. The people are not spending the little money that they have now because of the unknown. Just think of the people who work for tips for example. Just be thankful that it doesn't affect you at this time. It's not just the Feds.
Wait! Does that mean social security checks won't be handed out? I'm too young to collect such checks but I do feel bad for people who depend on these checks.
The only way this affects me is when tax time rolls around and I don't receive my (small) refund check.
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SS and refund checks will not be affected so don't worry about that.
One of the reasons that you go work for the gov't is that you won't be facing lay offs. So it doesn't make sense that any employee should have to keep that much money around. Plus who is to say this won't go more than 3 months?
Really? Many government jobs last only as long as that political party is in power. And budgets do get cut.
And why wouldn't you want to have a chunk of cash in your savings account? Why do you think that it's better to spend all your money as soon as you make it? Having cash on hand, means being able to buy real estate faster and easier, and even cheaper when one can pay more of the purchase price with cash.
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Nice, instead of demanding that all workers get pensions, you sell out those who do. Americans should be leaving any employer that doesn't offer a pension.
No company owes their employees a pension, and that is because there is no guarantee that the company will last forever or be profitable forever.
So far it has not affected me, but I can't say I'm not worried. I work for the county, not the Feds, but you know how that trickle-down effect works sometimes.
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