- The Washington Times - Friday, March 1, 2019

More than a thousand Transportation Security Administration workers have yet to receive back pay from the longest partial government shutdown in the United States.

The exact number of employees is still unclear more than a month after the shutdown’s conclusion due to employees continuing to come forward and complain that they have not been paid, an anonymous TSA official who is “frustrated with the situation” told CNN in an article published on Friday.

The reason for the delay is due to the TSA deciding to give partial paychecks to entice people to continue coming to work. TSA Administrator David Pekoske said the move would “alleviate some of the financial hardship many of you are facing” as many of the agents called out because of financial troubles, complicating who has been paid and who has not.

“It appears as though their effort to partially pay people screwed things up, and they are still getting their act together,” the anonymous official said, CNN reported.

TSA set the number of people unpaid in an official statement, saying that only 1,000 of 60,000 employees have yet to be paid.

During the shutdown, employee callouts led to airports experiencing long lines and shutting down security checkpoints during the holiday season.

President Trump said that employees should start seeing back pay after the shutdown ended on Jan. 25, and back pay was set as a priority for the Office of Management of Budget.

• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.

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