Furloughed FAA workers to get back pay
WASHINGTON — Nearly 4,000 workers who were furloughed in a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration this summer were told yesterday in an e-mail that they will receive back pay.
The back pay will be in the workers’ Oct. 18 paychecks, according to a copy of the e-mail from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA administrator Randy Babbitt.
The FAA said in a separate statement that it’s using authority provided in a bill passed by Congress in August ending the shutdown to award the back pay. The agency was forced to partially shut down after Congress allowed its operating authority to lapse in a partisan dispute between the House and Senate.
The money will come from an aviation trust fund that partially funds FAA programs, including construction and safety grants to airports.
The shutdown cost the FAA nearly $400 million in uncollected airline ticket taxes. The agency also issued stop work orders on more than 200 airport projects.
But air traffic controllers and most safety inspectors were not affected by the shutdown.
