Norton Says Current Federal Law Allows FAA Workers to Get Back Pay Now, Before Congress Reconvenes
August 18, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who earlier this month announced she would introduce a bill for back pay for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees who were furloughed for two weeks during the partial FAA shutdown, said today that she now believes "no new bill is necessary, and that the FAA can and should provide back pay to the furloughed employees immediately." Norton said that, after close examination of the text of the short-term FAA extension bill that was signed into law on August 5, she believes there is sufficient authorization in that bill to provide back pay to the furloughed workers.
Norton explained, "The House-passed FAA short-term extension bill, which eventually became law, has a July 23 effective date, the day the previous extension was set to expire. Although the bill did not become law until August 5, it is retroactively effective to July 23. Consequently, based on a close reading of the bill, the FAA has the authority now to pay workers for the two-week period they were furloughed. As precedent, Norton looked at the highways authorization that lapsed last year for three days. In that case, a separate bill was necessary in order to provide back pay for federal workers who were furloughed because the new highways authorization extension bill, unlike the FAA extension bill, did not include a retroactive effective date and, therefore, did not provide authority to the U.S. Department of Transportation to give back pay to the employees.
Norton, who earlier led a press conference with the ranking members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and of the Aviation Subcommittee in the hope of ending the Congressional standoff, said that, in light of the express terms of the FAA extension bill, the administration should not put these workers through the added ordeal of waiting to get two houses to pass a back-pay bill to receive the two weeks of pay they should never have lost in the first place. The hardship stories about missed mortgage and tuition payments demand quick action so no further damage is done. Norton also introduced a bill with Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) of the Rules Committee to allow the 4,000 furloughed FAA employees, including 1,000 from the region, to return to work during the shutdown and to receive back pay for the period they were furloughed. She is still investigating whether back pay is possible for the 74,000 non-federal airport construction workers, but making them whole is proving more difficult and complicated because they work for contractors, not the federal government, and, given the nature of construction work, they may not have worked full time on the airport projects. Norton said, "The furloughed employees were innocent bystanders in another of the Congressional standoffs that have disgusted the public and given the 112th Congress the highest disapproval rating in history. We can redeem a modicum of respect if the administration pays the FAA employees their due now, as the law clearly allows, rather than dragging out this outrage by waiting until Congress reconvenes in September and what could be another lengthy process before the pay is forthcoming.