James Barcia: “the people who are being treated most unfairly in this ridiculous shutdown of Federal agencies are the dedicated workers…”

“the people who are being treated most unfairly in this ridiculous shutdown of Federal agencies are the dedicated workers who are showing up for work day after day without any idea of when they are getting paid. And to make matters even worse, some of these workers stand to lose well-earned benefits because of the shutdown. I know that people who work for the Justice Department, including members of the U.S. Marshall's office and the FBI, are at risk of losing earned vacation time. Like other Federal employees, they face a use-it-or-lose-it situation when their accumulated leave exceeds 240 hours per year. Under current procedures, these employees will lose their excess hours if they are not used by the end of the current pay period. But these people have been deemed essential as a result of the shutdown of the Justice Department and have been prohibited from using their accumulate leave time. While it is true that there are procedures in place for these dedicated Federal servants to apply for extra time to use this excess leave because of extraordinary circumstances, why should these individuals be compelled to make extra effort to keep the benefits they have earned and are being prohibited from using? I firmly believe that in any future legislation to restore benefits to Federal employees affected by the shutdown, that an automatic extension for the use of this excess leave time should be included.”