Federal workers erupt over latest White House threat to withhold their pay

Federal workers say they are frustrated, scared and angry after the White House threatened to withhold their back pay once the government shutdown ends.Why it matters: Many of these folks are living paycheck to paycheck and can't afford to simply not be paid. It's the latest blow to the country's largest workforce.750,000 federal employees are on furlough — that is, they've been told not work during the shutdown and aren't getting paid. Others are working without pay.Where it stands: It's "chaos," says Imelda Avila-Thomas, an official with the federal worker union that represents employees at the Department of Labor where she works. She tells Axios that that she's been getting blasted with texts from colleagues asking if this is lawful or if they should look for another job. "The irony is I work for the Wage and Hour Division. We ensure that people get paid correctly."The big picture: When employees were furloughed on Oct. 1, they received paperwork guaranteeing that they'd get back pay upon their return, Avila-Thomas notes.Now, after Axios reported that the White House was considering not paying furloughed workers, workers don't know what to believe. Union officials, former government officials, Democrats and lawyers who are experts in administrative law say that the administration is legally required to provide back pay. Even some Republicans agree: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters that threatening not to pay back workers is "bad strategy" and "probably not a good message to send right now to people who are not being paid," Axios' Andrew Solender reports.Catch up quick: In every other previous shutdown, federal workers who were furloughed received back pay.A federal law passed after the last shutdown, in President Trump's first term, was believed to enshrine the practice into law — until Tuesday morning, when Axios' Marc Caputo reported that the administration was taking a different view and considering not paying furloughed workers.Asked about not paying furloughed workers, Trump told reporters, "it depends on who you're talking about.""For the most part, we're going to take care of our people," the president said. "There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way."Reality check: The OMB's official guidance still says federal workers should receive compensation.Nothing is official yet.Zoom in: Five other federal employees independently told Axios that they were angry over this latest threat — after a year of layoffs and nasty rhetoric from the White House maligning their work.Avila-Thomas notes that half of her colleagues have left this year, taking early retirement or pushed out by the White House.The federal workforce overall is already down by more than 200,000 employees this year. Another 100,000 are expected to leave by December, an administration official said recently.What they're saying: "I think the mood has moved past anxious and well into pissed-off territory," says one federal worker. "I also think it's a bluff.""It's telling that this administration's approach to negotiation is to threaten to blatantly break the law," says one employee, currently on furlough from the Bureau of Land Management. "They're just doing this to see what Congress will let them get away with."What to watch: The unions that represent federal workers have already filed complaints over the administration's threats to fire workers in the shutdown.The argument that workers aren't guaranteed back pay violates the law, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement Tuesday.