Federal Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over Government Shutdown

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A group of federal employees has filed a class action lawsuit against the government for allegedly violating the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the Essential Employees who remained on their job during the 16-day government shutdown last month.

Filed by five Bureau of Prisons employees, the proposed class action lawsuit is asking those who remained on the job, but had their paycheck delayed until the government reopened, to be reimbursed, including overtime.

The FLSA requires the government to pay workers at least minimum wage, as well as any overtime pay, on their scheduled payday. By delaying pay during the shutdown, the workers technically received pay below the minimum wage, according to the class action lawsuit.

“These Essential Employees were not paid between Oct. 1, 2013 and Oct. 5, 2013 on their regularly scheduled payday for biweekly pay period nineteen from Sept. 22, 2013 through Oct. 5, 2013. As a result, Essential Employees were not paid the minimum wage for each hour worked during the Five Days, or alternatively, many Essential Employees were paid less than $290 (the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour times forty hours per week) for work performed during the week of September 29, 2013 through October 5, 2013,” the class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are seeking to represent other government employees who stayed on the job to be reimbursed “at the rate of $7.25 per hour times the number of hours worked during the Five Days, or alternatively, for themselves and other Essential Employees in an amount equal to the difference between $290 and the amount paid on the Scheduled Payday for work performed during the week.”

The plaintiffs argued that “if compliance with the FLSA’s minimum wage is evaluated on a daily or hourly basis, then Defendant paid each Essential Employee less than minimum wage on the Scheduled Payday” which is an alleged violation of the FLSA. According to the class action lawsuit, there were approximately 1.3 million Essential Employees during the partial shutdown in October 2013.

As a result of the alleged violation, the Essential Employees suffered monetary damages and are entitled to liquidated damages, the plaintiffs contend.

“It is fundamentally unfair for us to work without pay, because we have bills, we have families, and we need to put food on the table,” Donald Martin, a Bureau of Prisons worker, said during a press briefing.

“I’m hopeful others will join us in this lawsuit so we can send a message to the politicians here in D.C. that what they do — the decisions they make — do affect normal Americans. And we do stand to repeat this process again.”

Aside from reimbursement and overtime, the plaintiffs are also asking that the lawsuit be certified as a class action, and that they be awrded reasonable attorneys’ fees and the costs and disbursements of this litigation.

This Government Shutdown FLSA Violation Class Action Lawsuit is Martin, et al. v. United States of America, Case No. 1:13-cv-00834, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

UPDATE: A U.S. federal claims judge refused to dismiss the government shutdown class action lawsuit, ruling on July 31, 2014 that plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded that the late payments were a violation of federal wage laws.

UPDATE 2: The government shutdown class action lawsuit has been conditionally certified, and notice about the case reportedly went out to Class Members between March 9 and March 16, 2015. If you were classified as an essential employee during the shutdown, you may be able to join the class action lawsuit and pursue compensation.

If you believe you were the victim of an FLSA violation, including unpaid wages and unpaid overtime, you may qualify to join a class action lawsuit against the company. Learn more about your rights and obtain a free case evaluation at the Wage & Hour, Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.