Originally Posted by
FliesWay2Much
Back in 2013, many of us of who were retirement-eligible found out that you can’t retire or quit during a shut down because the HR, OPM and other support staff are also furloughed.
I doubt anyone keeps theae kinds of records, but it would be very interesting to find out if there is a massive wave of retirements and resignations in the first few weeks after the government reopens. I won’t get into OMNI-land, but I will just post the speculation here.
I’m not sure we will see a mass exodus from the TSA because, as incredible as it sounds, they have been around long enough now that many of them are too close to federal retirement to simply quit and throw it all away. I will further speculate that those not showing up are the younger and less-tenured employees who don’t have much to lose.
I would further speculate that many of those calling out sick are not thinking about any bigger picture - they are almost certainly part of any organized sick-out - but they are preceding from a very simple logical thought process:
1) I ain't gettin' paid
2) I don't like my job
3) They don't appreciate me, anyway
4) Screw 'em, I'm stayin' home 'til they start payin' me
I doubt that many of those calling out sick actually took additional jobs in the first two or three weeks of the shutdown. As the deadline for missing a paycheck got closer and closer, more and more of them probably saw the writing on the wall and went looking for additional income, but I think that most of the out-sickers simply waited and held their breath, hoping that the 535 children in DC would settle their tiff and get the gubmint back to work. Once that first paycheck was missed, I imagine that many more of them started looking for side jobs or other sources of additional income.
We'll probably never know for sure, though. Those who called out sick during the shutdown when they weren't actually sick will never admit it, or they risk disciplinary action.