Collins, King Urge Inclusion of Contractor Back Pay in Upcoming Disaster Package

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) joined a bipartisan group of 38 Senators to send a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging that back pay for federal contract workers impacted by the government shutdown be included within the upcoming disaster relief package. While federal workers harmed by the government shutdown have since been compensated for their lost wages, federal contract employees –  including janitorial, food, and security services workers – who were furloughed or forced to accept reduced work hours have not. In their letter, the Senators urge the Appropriations Committee to include provisions to address this unfair situation in upcoming appropriations legislation.

The Senators write, “Contractor workers and their families should not be penalized for a government shutdown that they did nothing to cause.”

They continue, “Contractor employees perform jobs that are critical to the operations of our government, such as food service, security, and custodial work. These are often low-wage jobs that require workers to live paycheck to paycheck. As a result, the shutdown has left contractors struggling with unpaid rent and other mounting bills that many of these workers still cannot afford without back pay.”

The Senators close the letter stating, “There are bipartisan bills in both houses of Congress that would provide back pay to compensate contractor employees for their lost wages. As supporters of this effort, we urge you to include back pay for contractor employees in a supplemental appropriations bill for FY2019 or as part of the regular appropriations process for FY2020.”

Senators Collins and King are both cosponsors of the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act, which now has 48 cosponsors in the Senate and 68 in the House of Representatives.

A copy of the letter is available HERE.