Originally Posted by WillCAD

TSOs pulling a sick-out are only going to hurt themselves. If they work during the shutdown, they WILL get paid for their hours, even if the checks are late and cause them headaches with their bills. But calling out sick just causes them to use up their sick leave, and potentially exposes them to punishment for illegal job action.

I wouldn't hold my breath on the punishment, however; the people who make that decision are also government employees who are not getting paid during the shutdown and will likely have much sympathy for those who call out sick. Besides, if it's not an organized sick-out but more of a grass-roots movement, then it might not qualify as illegal - just a lot of individual employees calling out sick on their own initiative.

And there is a rather nasty cold going around this season, so there are many folks who are legitimately out sick - it hit me the week before Christmas and ruined my holidays, causing me miss a couple of extra days of work. I'm still not 100% over it, and it's been more than two weeks.





I was in a similar situation at another job a few years ago, and that is how it worked for me, as well. I was paid by my company, but the government couldn't pay my company's invoices until after the shutdown ended. Being under contract meant that my company was obligated to keep me on the job for the duration of the shutdown, but it also meant that we were certain to get paid for our work after the shutdown ended.

It was awkward, though. I reported for work that first day with only a smattering of essential government employees and one or two other contractors on site. While walking down the hallway, I heard one government employee (who, remember, was forced to be at work but would not get paid until the shutdown ended) exclaim, "What is HE doing here!?" with some genuine anger in her voice. Fortunately, she had said that to another government employee who explained the situation to her without rancor, defusing a potentially hostile encounter.