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Comment by aerophilic | Hacker News Reader

Honest question: If someone who isn’t paid for a job “quits”, are they forgoing pay for when pay gets re-authorized? I ask because I feel as a country we are getting close to just accepting the shutdown can last forever. If that is the case, and since a large percentage of folks don’t even have $400 to ride out an emergency, what happens if they choose to say “enough is enough” and try to get a different job? Are they permanently out the pay they earned by working without pay?

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I don't think they can forfeit the pay for the hours they worked. Employers are required by law to pay for all hours worked at the agreed upon rate. I assume if they quit they'd still be owed that pay and they'd get a check when the government re-opened.

Remember, this is the federal government and thus the government can change the laws through legislation or via presidential order.

Through legislation, yes. Presidential order, no. It is very, very unlikely that Congress would pass a law saying the government doesn't have to pay its employees like every other employer.

Even if they did, such a law would be unconstitutional because slavery is explicitly illegal under the 13th Amendment. They would have to amend the constitution to make that law work and something that wildly unpopular is not going to happen.

In fact Congress passed a law stating the opposite, that even Federal employees who are not required to work will receive back pay for the time the government was shutdown.

Adding to that... if they were "ordered" back to work, can they face any penalty by quitting? If so, it seems like a liability to be a federal employee in these times.

edit: typo

Legally workers must be paid for hours they worked.

The only people who might be leaving money on the table if they quit are those who were told not to work. They were promised back pay when they return, but it's unclear what would happen if they do not return.

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