The Trump administration is considering withholding the pay retroactively of government workers laid off due to the federal government shutdown, Reuters reported.
According to the agency, the Trump administration's initiative does not provide for mandatory payment to employees laid off after the end of the cabinet shutdown. Therefore, approximately 700,000 government workers are at risk of not receiving their pay, Reuters notes.
In a draft document dated October 3, White House lawyers, according to Reuters, insist that the law, passed during Trump's first term in 2019, does not provide for automatic payment and states that all payments must be approved by the US Congress. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said the US administration could implement significant layoffs and furloughs at US agencies and curtail a number of government programs amid the shutdown. He also did not rule out the possibility that some employees of US agencies would not receive their salaries retroactively once government funding is restored.
The US federal government partially shut down at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding.