Last week, I wrote an article about the government shutdown that is presently in effect and will likely be for another week or so. Well, there’s more news to report and it doesn’t make sense, at least not to me. Maybe I’m just retarded, I don’t know. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave some very bad news in a press conference yesterday.
She said that federal employees’ paychecks may not be issued on Friday. Here’s the problem: the checks and direct deposits should have already gone out. As a former small business owner, I had to submit payroll by 4:00 pm on Mondays so that my payroll vendor, Paychex, could sweep the funds out of my payroll account in order to process payroll.
Paychex would then process everything and prepare the direct deposits as none of my employees got actual physical checks. Paychex usually had everything processed by around noon on Tuesday.
That afternoon, they’d send out the direct deposit information so that most banks would receive those funds on Wednesday, at which point they would sit on it until Friday morning. Yes, banks have your payday funds in an “ACH warehouse” and at that time, they held onto those funds until Friday mornings. At the time, there was none of those two day early stuff.
There is a point to all this: if my small business could process payroll so that funds go out on Tuesday, surely the federal government can do the same. Basically, the direct deposits should already be prepared and ready to go out to the banks. With that in mind, Friday’s payroll should be a given and Leavitt is saying that employees might not get paid this week. Well, then, just when do they send the information to the banks?
Federal employees’ payroll is processed by the National Finance Center. That processing should absolutely already been done as long as a few employees who handle that remain working during the shutdown. If there’s no one there, then yes, payroll is delayed and it’s almost too late to get the pay out to the banks. Almost.
If they can process tomorrow, then employees should get paid on time. Sadly, it’s looking as if a Friday payday will not happen. However, I am almost certain that NFC employees would be deemed essential and as such, pay should already have been processed.
As for the military, their pay is processed by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Their next payday will be on the 15th, a Wednesday. That means that their payroll should be processed on Friday. Surely a few DFAS employees are essential enough to be in the office to process payroll. But if payroll isn’t sent out by close of business on Friday, then a timely payday might be in jeopardy.
The banks would hopefully receive the direct deposit information on Monday morning. The banks who give payroll funds two days early would then make the funds available within hours. Everyone else will wait until Wednesday. But that depends on how DFAS is functioning during the shutdown.
Leavitt has made it clear that, unless an agreement is made in very short order, payday will not happen on Friday. However, she might not be aware that NFC should have essential employees who can ensure what needs to happen will happen in a manner that ends up with employees’ checking accounts being filled with the payday that they worked so hard to earn.
As of the time that this article was published, it was, according to various sources, certain that neither our military nor the federal workers would not be paid on time. Sure, it might be too late to get federal employees paid on time, but as long as things are processed by close of business tomorrow, they will get paid. Hopefully.
As for the members of the finest military in the world, there is still ample time left. But that assumes that the shutdown will end sooner rather than later. In other words, as for our military, a timely payday should happen, but might not happen if this thing doesn’t end rather soon.
The point is that Leavitt, though well-meaning, might be ill-informed or might just want to scare people. Point is that even though payroll will be processed late even if the shutdown ends today, there’s still a shot at getting federal employees paid. Leavitt makes it seem as if it’s too late. It is not.
Though my payroll was due on Monday afternoon, I could in theory have sent it on Wednesday and my employees still would have been paid on time. This was back in 2013. Here in 2025, there is absolutely a way to get them paid, even if payroll goes out Thursday afternoon same-day direct deposit is a thing now.
I guess the underlying point is this: federal employees shouldn’t panic. Yet. Don’t just assume that Leavitt’s doom and gloom press conference announcement is the final word.
The one thing that she did get right is this: this shutdown ends at the Democrats’ doorstep. We Republicans have negotiated in good faith. We want this to end for the good of our nation. Democrats don’t care about you or our country. If they did care, the shutdown wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
So if federal employees don’t get paid on Friday, and if things go really sideways and our military doesn’t get on time, thank a Democrat.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt d