Shutdown strikes federal workers in Pittsburgh with furloughs

About 250 federal workers represented by the National Treasury Employees Union in Western Pennsylvania were furloughed Wednesday, casualties of the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The workers learned by email they should plan to stay home for the duration of the shutdown unless they hear otherwise.

Things for the union started out even worse: All 500 workers represented by the Western Pennsylvania chapter were initially told they were being furloughed.

But about half later learned they should continue to report to work, said Elizabeth McPeak, Chapter 34’s first vice president.

The chapter represents federal workers throughout the region, from Washington to Erie to Altoona. Many of them work from the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.

It is unclear whether the furloughed workers will receive back pay.

“These federal workers have done nothing but show up, day in and day out, and do the jobs America needs them to do,” McPeak told TribLive on Thursday.

She added that federal workers feel like “pawns” as lawmakers remain locked in a stalemate over the budget.

The union’s local members who are continuing to work will be paid as usual, she said.

But that “skeleton crew” won’t be able to keep up on the workload, she said.

The taxpayer advocate office, which helps people navigate troubles with the IRS, will not be able to help taxpayers, she said.

“The advocates — and we have roughly 15 of them in Pittsburgh — typically have a casework load of around 100 cases,” McPeak said. “That means that’s 100 American taxpayers who are getting help from them. And right now, those cases, there’s nobody there to work them.”

In-person services for the public are halted at IRS offices in Downtown Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Altoona, Cranberry and Johnstown.

Pittsburgh’s IRS call center — which last year fielded nearly 1 million calls — likely will be unable to take calls from taxpayers seeking assistance.

The majority of local revenue officers and revenue agents — the people tasked with ensuring companies pay their fair share in taxes — are furloughed, too, McPeak said.

“The effect on the American people is real,” she said. “What’s important for the public to understand is that the services they depend on, they’re not going to be there.”

McPeak called on Congress to pass a budget quickly.

“We are asking for Congress to do its job,” she said. “We want to work. Congress, do your job. Let us do ours.”

Charleen Cline Stephansky, president of the local union chapter, in a statement said employees should be treated with dignity and respect.

“Since January, all federal employees have suffered indignities for simply doing their job,” Stephansky said.

“The Administration claims they want the best and the brightest working in the government, but they have already forced out way too many of them.”

McPeak described uncertainty and chaos for workers who were left scrambling when they found out about furloughs Wednesday.

Workers were given about four hours to return emails, handle urgent tasks and leave the office for an undetermined period.

Workers still get health and life insurance during furloughs, McPeak said.

But the premiums for those benefits are typically taken from the back pay federal workers receive once the government shutdown lifts.

If workers don’t receive back pay — as President Donald Trump has suggested could happen — McPeak said it’s unclear whether federal employees who were forced out of work would then be billed for the costs of keeping their insurance.

“This has been the most chaotic shutdown of my 20-year career,” she said. “I’ve been here for a long time, and I’ve been through numerous shutdowns — long ones, short ones.”

Typically, she said, workers find out a day or two in advance that they’ll be furloughed.

This time, hundreds of workers showed up to work, only to be told they were furloughed and had to go home.

“This is the first time where you woke up in the morning and didn’t know what you’re supposed to do,” she said. “The angst this is causing everyone who’s furloughed is so unnecessary. And the threat of withholding our pay is just insult to injury.”

“This mass chaos is so demoralizing.”