More than 1 million federal employees will soon be notified of their eligibility to participate in a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the government for not paying them on time during the 2013 partial government shutdown.
The Justice Department will begin sending the court-ordered email notifications to "essential" government employees who reported to work during the shutdown but were not paid until it was over, reported The Washington Post.
The notice will advise the employees of their right to join the collective-action lawsuit and the possibility to be paid back damages.
A small group of Bureau of Prison employees originally filed the suit last year, which later expanded to class-action status, alleging the government violated the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act by delaying pay for those who remained on the job during the 16-day shutdown, according to AL.com. Some 5,000 federal employees have joined the suit since then.
Plaintiffs are seeking compensation of $7.25 per hour for time worked during the period for which the government had to delay paychecks because of the budget lapse: Oct. 1 through Oct. 5, 2013.
Employees were later paid for that work, but they suffered losses from the initial shorted paycheck, according to Federal Times. The lawsuit claims that some employees were unable to pay bills on time and some had to deal with creditors, and should therefore be eligible for additional damages. The judge has not yet decided whether they are entitled to damages.
