What Does the Government Shutdown Mean for Your Employment Case?

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When Washington goes dark, your employment case enters a gray zone where agencies stall, courts keep moving, and legal deadlines rarely pause. We unpack the real-world consequences of a federal shutdown on discrimination claims, EEOC investigations, MSPB filings, and federal court practice—then map out the steps that actually protect your rights when the phones go silent.

We start with what truly closes and what keeps running. The EEOC pares down to a skeleton crew, investigations and hearings halt, and communication becomes sparse. Federal tribunals like the MSPB automatically extend deadlines by the length of the lapse, but those extensions don’t revive expired dates. Federal courts, by contrast, remain open on non-appropriated funds, so filings and schedules usually continue unless a specific judge issues an order. That split reality turns timing into strategy—and makes documentation your lifeline.

Drawing lessons from the 2018–2019 shutdown, we explain how backlogs form fast and linger for months, why long lapses push more workers to file directly in federal court, and how judges view “delay versus forgiveness.” Equitable tolling can save a claim when agency doors are locked, but only if you can prove diligent attempts to comply and a genuine barrier to filing. We outline what to save—portal screenshots, certified mail receipts, emails, and submission logs—and when to act. Private-sector workers should assume the 300-day charge deadline and 90-day right-to-sue clock keep running. Federal employees must still contact an EEO counselor within 45 days, even if offices are quiet.

Finally, we share the practical playbook we use in our own cases: file through every available channel, verify each attempt, monitor dockets daily, proceed on schedule in PACER unless a judge says otherwise, and build a contemporaneous record of obstacles and efforts. Shutdowns create uncertainty, not immunity. Subscribe, share this episode with someone facing a deadline, and leave a review to help more listeners protect their claims when the government hits pause.

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For more information, please contact our employment attorneys at Carey & Associates, P.C. at 203-255-4150, www.capclaw.com.

Disclaimer: For educational use only, not intended to be legal advice.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hey, it's Mark and welcome back.
This uh episode today we'retalking about uh what does the
government shutdown mean foryour employment case?
Uh when Washington shuts down,justice doesn't simply pause.
It stalls in uneven, confusingways that can make or break an
employment case.

(00:22):
The Equal Employment OpportunityCommission, the EOC, pairs back
uh to a skeleton crew.
Federal sector tribunals shuttheir dockets, courts generally
keep running.
However, while the federalgovernment sleeps, many legal
deadlines keep moving.
If you are pursuing adiscrimination claim, a shutdown
can threaten your proceduralrights without warning.

(00:45):
In this episode, I'll explainhow agencies and courts handle
these lapses, what pastshutdowns have shown, and what
steps you and your employmentattorney should take right now
to preserve your claims, whatactually closes and what doesn't
during a shutdown.
Under the EOC's publishedcontingency plan, the agency

(01:06):
suspends nearly all operationsduring a lapse in
appropriations, investigations,and hearings are all put on
hold, with only limited triagefor charges nearing the end of
their filing window.
In plain English, new progressstops until funding returns and
communication may be nonexistent from the agency.

(01:28):
Federal employees get a slightlydifferent experience through the
Merit Systems Protections Board.
By formal notice, the agencyautomatically extends all filing
and procedural processingdeadlines by the exact number of
shutdown days.
You don't have to file a motion,the clock simply moves.
That automatic extension,however, does not revive any

(01:50):
deadline that had expired beforethe shutdown began.
Meanwhile, the federaljudiciary, which I'm part of by
my practice in federal court,does not close immediately.
Courts will remain open usingnon-appropriated funds and cases
and deadlines continue asscheduled, at least for a

(02:10):
limited period.
After that, individual judgesmay begin curtailing operations
or issuing orders extendingdeadlines, case by case.
In short, the federal agenciesmay pause, but the courts keep
going until it's virtuallyimpractical to do so, which we
haven't ever seen before.
Lessons from prior long-termshutdowns.

(02:33):
The 2018-19 shutdown lasting 35days remains the longest in U.S.
history and a cautionary tale.
During that lapse, the EOC couldnot respond to more than 10,000
weekly inquiries, processing 15new hundred charges or conduct
mediations and hearings.
When it reopened, the backlogclogged the system for months.

(02:57):
The same pattern occurs in everylapse.
The longer the shutdown, thesteeper the restart.
Even after operations resume,investigators face months of
rescheduling, employers wait forreopen portals, and the
employees risk seeing theirdeadlines drift into technical
jeopardy.
How courts are likely to handleshutdown era employment cases?

(03:20):
Courts are signaling that agovernment shutdown by itself
will not excuse missed deadlinesor procedural defaults.
When an agency's doors arelocked and filing systems are
offline, equitable tolling canapply, but only if the employee
can prove diligent attempts tocomply.

(03:40):
Now you may ask, what the hellis equitable tolling?
It's a doctrine the courts willfollow, uh essentially that uh
if you demonstrated that youtried everything you could to
file uh a case with the EOC uhbut were prohibited from doing
so, they'll look to see if youmailed something.
If you sent something via theEEOC portal and were, you know,
you received proof of, etcetera, of you know you're

(04:02):
unable to file, uh, you wouldcollect all that information and
you demonstrate to the courtthat uh you have the basis for
what's called equitable tolling.
Otherwise, the ordinary 300-daycharge filing and 90-day
right-to-uh sue clocks continueto run during the shutdown.
Federal tribunals such as theMSB or the Merit Systems

(04:24):
Protectors Board are moreforgiving, automatically
extending their deadline by thelength of the shutdown, but
private sector litigants shouldexpect courts to apply a
case-by-case approach.
In short, shutdowns may justifydelay, but rarely forgiveness.
Most judges will preserveprocedural regular regularity
and expect the parties to builda clear record of their efforts

(04:47):
during the lapse.
Do my filing deadlines stop?
Usually no.
Deadlines do not go away.
For private sector workers, theTitle VII sets uh ADA and ADA
case uh charge filing cases.
The deadlines typically 300 daysin deferral states, um, deferral
states basically is aarrangement between the federal

(05:08):
government and each state thatproduces a 300-day uh window.
The deferral uh 300 days are notautomatically paused by an EOC
shutdown.
The agency itself warns thatlimited staff only review near
deadline filings.
If your deadline is approaching,you must act as if the clock is
still ticking.

(05:29):
Courts can apply equable tollingas discussed before when a
shutdown makes filingimpossible, but judges require
proof of both the diligence andan extraordinary obstacle, not
mere inconvenience.
Likewise, once a right-to-sueletter is issued, the 90-day
filing window in court continuesto run.
For federal employees, they muststill contact the EEO counselor

(05:53):
within 45 days.
Uh agency silence does notextend that requirement.
Short versus long-termshutdowns.
What changes for your case?
If the lapse lasts only a fewdays or weeks, expect temporary
cancellations and rescheduling,but long-term damage, but little
long-term damage, courtscontinue operating and most

(06:15):
deadlines remain intact.
If the shutdown extends forweeks or months, however, the
consequences compound.
The EOFC accumulates thousandsof unprocessed matters every
day.
Mediations and hearings pile up,employer deadlines shift, and
investigations stretch acrossphysical years.
Courts begin to see an influx ofdirect federal filings from

(06:40):
workers who refuse to wait forreopened agencies.
That means basically if theagency is closed and you get the
notice of sue that comes outbefore the shutdown, you file
your lawsuit.
Don't wait.
The longer the shutdown, themore procedural gridlock, and
the greater the risk that atimely claim will be lost to
bureaucratic paralysis.

(07:01):
And we saw a bit of this duringthe pandemic, where the courts
basically shut down and didn'tknow what to do.
The agencies were non-existent.
So it took a long time, uh, inmy experience, that for the
courts to uh remedy the backlog,uh, and it was essentially quite
a shit show because uh Iremember writing to my federal

(07:21):
judge, uh the head judge incharge of the district, um
asking, you know, when is thecourt going to open?
Uh and they politely respondedback saying that uh they're
working on it.
But um eventually, it took along time, maybe a year and a
half uh for the court itself touh remedy the backlog.
It was uh a practice inpatience.

(07:41):
Uh best practices, how youremployment attorney can file and
protect your case during theshutdown.
When the government shuts down,employees are represented by
employment counts, employmentlawyers have a crucial
advantage.
Your employment attorney can uhcontinue moving the case forward
even while agencies are dark.
Filing during a shutdown meanscreating a verified, verifiable

(08:02):
record of timely submission, notwaiting for someone to pick up
the phone.
At our office, CAREN Associates,we have systems in place to file
EOC charges diligently on behalfof our clients, regardling
regardless of the shutdown.
In active federal court cases,our employment attorneys
continue filing electronicallythrough the court's uh PACER

(08:24):
system, uh, which stays openeven during the funding lapses.
Unless a judge issues anextension order, we proceed on
schedule.
We monitor every docket toensure no client uh loses ground
because of the politics in theCapitol.
Uh with experienced employmentcounsel, filing during a
shutdown becomes a matter ofproof, not access.

(08:44):
Your attorney's documentation,portal records, postmarks, and
emails establish diligence andpreserve your rights, even when
the government itself is closed.
So there you have it.
Things that you can do duringthe shutdown to preserve and
protect your legal interest, um,to hopefully ensure that your
once the uh government opens orreopens, uh your case will

(09:05):
continue as you had planned.
Hope you found this uh uhepisode interesting and talk to
you soon.