As this column is being written, Congress is feuding over the terms
of a budget to keep the government running until the end of September.
The government has been running on a series of continuing resolutions
since Oct. 1, 2010. These are effectively short-term agreements to keep
funding going to the government while the Republicans and Democrats
claim to be negotiating. Now, however, the continuing resolutions have
stopped and a shutdown looms.
The good news for many federal IT workers is
that their jobs are considered essential, and they will continue to
show up for work as always. The bad news is that they won’t get paid
until a new budget is approved, and when pay does resume, they may find
that they get less money and fewer benefits. It’s even possible that
they won’t get paid at all for the time worked during the shutdown, but
they’ll still be required to work.
Other government IT workers will be furloughed.
The non-essential IT workers are those who update most of the
government’s Web sites and who do things like process visas or print
paychecks. If the shutdown lasts long enough, your paper tax forms
won’t be processed because there won’t be anyone to key the info into a
computer. After nine days of shutdown, the Space Shuttle Endeavour
won’t be launched on time.
Essential IT workers are those who work in data
centers that must keep running, even in agencies that are mostly
shutting down. The reason is that you can’t just pull the plug on a
data center, and every agency will have some essential workers who will
need computer access. So the computers will stay up, but the help desk
might not. You won’t be able to buy a new computer, and customer
service won’t be there.
IT workers at the Federal Aviation
Adminstration, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security,
Coast Guard and agencies such as hospitals and the CDC will mostly be
considered essential, although a few customer-facing workers may be
furloughed. However, it’s still unclear whether Social Security
payments will go out (although they probably will) or whether tax
refunds will be mailed (they probably won’t).
IT contractors may have their jobs altered, but
will still probably continue working. Contractors who work in
government buildings that are closed because of the shutdown will
likely be locked out of their offices, but they can use this time to
catch up on training, take vacation or work on projects that aren’t
for the government or aren’t shut down. Plus, many contractors provide
essential IT services for the government, and they’ll continue to work.
They’ll also get paid since they work for private companies.
If you’re not a federal worker, you can expect
to find some government services become unavailable during the time
that your elected representatives try to prove that politics is more
important than serving the people who elected them. You’ll still get
weather reports from the National Weather Service and the air traffic
system will continue to function, so you can still travel. But if
you’re trying to enter the United States and need a visa, you’ll find
that visa processing has stopped – there won’t be anyone in the IT shop
to handle that.
The actual details of people who are considered
essential and non-essential are still being worked out. Federal
agencies are still making plans while Congress engages in puffery. If
you’re a federal employee, you may not know for sure whether you have a
job on April 11 until quitting time April 8. And even then you may be
required to report to work on April 11 long enough to turn in your smartphones and laptops.
But there are two real tragedies here, only one
of which is IT-related. The first is that Congress isn’t paying members
of the military, including those deployed in war zones, despite the
fact that it is requiring them to continue to risk their lives in the
service of freedom. Speaking as a retired military officer, it is
simply wrong to allow Congress to play politics with the lives of our
soldiers, sailors and Marines. Congress itself will get paid (they saw
to that), but they can’t be bothered to pay or troops while they
grandstand.
The second tragedy is the insult to all of
those IT workers who will be forced to work without pay during the
shutdown. These workers don’t have the option of taking paid leave,
they don’t have the option of seeking temporary work that does pay.
They simply are required to work, or they’ll be punished. It’s
essentially involuntary servitude. This is just plain wrong.
Government IT News & Reviews 
