As the government shutdown drags on Transportation Security Administration agents are calling out sick at more than twice the normal rate, many claiming they can’t afford the ride to work, TSA says.
The agency reported that 10 percent of the agents had unscheduled absences Sunday, compared to a 3.1 percent rate on the same date last year.
“Many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations,” TSA said in a statement.
The sick-out by agents, who work without pay during the partial government shutdown, sparked fears of long lines at airports and potential holes in security.
The plight of the TSA agents and the potential impact on travelers has become the foremost horror story of the shutdown now in its fifth week, with no end in sight.
“This is directly related to our security. The Trump shutdown is undermining that,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fumed.
TSA said Monday that wait times in security screening lines at major airports remain within the normal range.
Most travelers were in line less than 30 minutes for regular screening lanes and less than 15 minutes in the TSA PreCheck lanes, said the agency.
The longest average wait time Sunday, the most recent data available, was 45 minutes at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, which was hosting a key NFL playoff game Sunday.
America’s busiest airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, had an average 23 minute wait time in the standard lane and an average 6 minute wait time in the PreCheck lane, according to TSA.
Aviation security expert Jeffrey C. Price said the risk to the public was growing with each day of the shutdown.
“The longer the shutdown goes, the more the sick calls are going to continue to increase,” he said. “Some of these agents are working other part-time jobs by now, just to pay their bills and feed their families. I suspect a lot of the call-offs are so they can go to their other job or look for another job.”
The average wage for TSA employees is $16 per hour or $33,280 a year, according to PayScale.com.
The TSA agents are among 420,000 essential federal employees expected to work without pay during the shutdown. Another 380,000 government workers are furloughed.
They missed their first paycheck Jan. 11 and will miss a second pay day Friday.
The workers’ no-pay predicament is a recipe for security failures, said Mr. Price.
“This contributes to more distraction on the job, less staff due to sick calls, and less staff with institutional knowledge as some of the workforce leaves permanently for other employment,” he said.
TSA expected to screen more than 8 million passengers over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, an increase of nearly 11 percent from the long weekend last year.
The agency cited “excessive callouts” when deciding to close one of three checkpoints Saturday and Sunday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The checkpoint reopened Monday, according to the airport, which also downplayed the role of shutdown callouts.
“It is important to clarify that it is not unusual for TSA and BWI Marshall to open or close one of our security checkpoints supporting the Southwest Airlines Terminal based on projected travel levels, airline flight schedules, time of day and/or TSA staffing levels,” BWI said in a statement.
“This has been common practice for years and we will continue to manage security checkpoints in this manner to optimize efficiency and customer experience. This continued practice will have minimal, if any, impact on passengers and no impact on airport operations,” said BWI.
TSA said it was using emergency workers known as its National Deployment Force officers to fill in some gaps, including at busy Atlanta, Newark and LaGuardia airports.
“These officers are fully qualified TSA screeners. They typically deploy into areas where we’ve experienced natural disasters, such as the hurricanes and wildfires we saw this past year, allowing affected officers to tend to their family and property,” the agency said in a statement.
TSA also said that there were limits to availability of emergency workers.
“While we are not releasing specific numbers, we can confirm that there are limited resources available, and our ability to reinforce airports with National Deployment Officers is becoming more difficult,” said TSA.
⦁ Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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