Court Rejects Effort to Dismiss 2018-19 Shutdown Pay Lawsuit

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week rejected the government’s motion to dismiss NTEU’s lawsuit on behalf of tens of thousands of NTEU-represented employees who were forced to work during the 2018-19 government shutdown without being paid on time.

NTEU’s lawsuit charges the administration with violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) because these employees were not paid on time for their work during the shutdown. A judge agreed with NTEU that the FLSA requires employers to pay employees “on the employee’s next regularly scheduled payday" and ordered the government to respond to the union’s complaint by Feb. 8, 2021.

This win means NTEU can continue to pursue damages for the plaintiffs who were wrongly denied timely pay during the shutdown. While cases like these take a long time to resolve, NTEU is in it for the long run and will continue to provide updates of the next steps.