Heidi Burakiewicz

Six years after the 2013 government shutdown, attorneys have determined exactly how many federal employees are eligible for liquidated damages based on a class-action lawsuit, but it’s still unclear how much they’re owed.

In today’s Federal Newscast, a group of nearly 40 senators are urging the appropriations committee to include back pay for federal contractors impacted by the last government shutdown, in an upcoming disaster relief package.

Before the reopening of the government Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Heidi Burakiewicz, partner at Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, who represents many Bureau of Prison employees.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates there were about $2.3 billion in government contracts that would have been issued to small firms over the past month, but weren’t because of the government shutdown.

If the lawsuits over the 2018-2019 shutdown go the way of the last one, the money for damages should come faster than in 2013.

A federal district judge refused to compel the executive branch to find an immediate end to the government shutdown’s impacts on excepted federal employees working without pay. The judge’s decision maintains the status quo. Other lawsuits challenging the shutdown’s legitimacy are still pending.

The National Treasury Employees Union said excepted federal employees who have been working without pay during the partial government shutdown should be paid full wages, including overtime, and other damages.

Excepted employees who filed suit in 2013 shutdown say pay problems can be avoided with simple legislation from Congress

A federal employment attorney says it’s outrageous the government is treating its federal workforce like this.

The letters sent to those affected by the Office of Personnel Management cyber breach contain a certain sentence that attempts to indemnify the government from any liability surrounding the breach. But that sentence alone may not protect the government from someone who wants to sue it for damages. Federal employment attorney Heidi Burakiewicz, a partner at the law firm Mehri and Skalet, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with an insider’s look at how the 1974 Privacy Act could cover recent cyber attacks and let lawsuits fly.