Air site visitors controllers promised quick shutdown again pay : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5700x3800+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2F58%2Ffca483c74766ac6e74d5232c3747%2Fap25312847373349.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5700x3800+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F55%2F58%2Ffca483c74766ac6e74d5232c3747%2Fap25312847373349.jpg" class="img" alt="An American Eagle jet flies past the air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on, Nov. 8, 2025. As essential employees, controllers were required to work during the government shutdown without pay. When the last shutdown ended in 2019, it took some years to get all the money they were owed." fetchpriority="high"/> An American Eagle jet flies previous the air site visitors management tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport on, Nov. 8, 2025. As important workers, controllers have been required to work throughout the federal government shutdown with out pay. When the final shutdown resulted in 2019, it took some years to get all the cash they have been owed. Ross D. Franklin/AP cover caption

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Ross D. Franklin/AP WASHINGTON — With the federal authorities open for enterprise once more, air site visitors controllers can lastly receives a commission for all of the work they carried out throughout the 43 days of the shutdown.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says that can occur promptly, with controllers receiving the majority of their again pay inside days.

However some air site visitors controllers haven't forgotten the final authorities shutdown in 2018 and 2019, when dozens of controllers sued the federal authorities for extra time and different compensation they stated they have been owed.

That lawsuit finally resulted in a settlement, but it surely took years. One present air site visitors controller informed NPR they did not obtain a test from that settlement till this 12 months — simply weeks earlier than the federal government shutdown as soon as once more in October.

"I simply bought a $400 test, simply, like, perhaps per week earlier than the shutdown, that was from that 2019 shutdown," stated a controller who handles high-altitude site visitors at a facility within the Midwest. He requested NPR to withhold his identify as a result of he is afraid of retaliation from the Federal Aviation Administration.

This controller says the FAA did a poor job of monitoring extra time and shift differentials throughout the prior shutdown, and he is dreading the duty of calculating how a lot he's owed this time.

"It is only a nightmare," the controller stated, "attempting to ensure we receives a commission again accurately for all of our differentials and extra time."

In remarks this week, Secretary Duffy described a a lot speedier course of for controllers to get their again pay this time round.

"On this package deal to reopen the federal government, our controllers might be paid inside 48 hours of the federal government opening," Duffy informed reporters in Wisconsin on Tuesday. "They're going to get an enormous lump sum of what they're due, which is useful. They do not have to attend one other two weeks to be paid."

Air site visitors controllers missed two full paychecks over the past six weeks, in addition to a part of a 3rd. Duffy stated this week that controllers would obtain 70% of their pay inside 48 hours of the federal government reopening, with the remaining 30% a few week after the primary fee.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F58%2F2c83cf4443869c127b56d8126dac%2Fgettyimages-2246041975.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F58%2F2c83cf4443869c127b56d8126dac%2Fgettyimages-2246041975.jpg" class="img" alt="Passengers walk through LaGuardia Airport on November 10, 2025 in New York City. Airports across the country experienced delays and flight cancellations as airlines cut flights to ease the pressure on air traffic controllers, who worked unpaid during the ongoing government shutdown." loading="lazy"/> Passengers stroll by way of LaGuardia Airport on November 10, 2025 in New York Metropolis. Airports throughout the nation skilled delays and flight cancellations as airways lower flights to ease the strain on air site visitors controllers, who labored unpaid throughout the ongoing authorities shutdown. Spencer Platt/Getty Photos cover caption

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Spencer Platt/Getty Photos "So I encourage all of them to come back to work to be patriots and assist navigate the airspace successfully for the American individuals," Duffy stated at a press convention Tuesday in Chicago.

Nonetheless, some controllers are cautious.

"On the final one, we weren't correctly paid out," stated one present controller who works arriving and departing site visitors at a significant U.S. airport, who additionally requested NPR to not use his identify out of concern of retaliation from the FAA.

"Our pay has all these differentials and changes in it. Time beyond regulation, night time pay, Sunday pay, coaching pay, all completely different sorts of stuff you can get," the controller stated. "So I sat and I calculated for the entire 35-day shutdown what that ought to work out to. And I had to try this all by hand, which, you recognize, sucked."

"I wasn't made entire till Could, and the shutdown resulted in January," the controller stated.

Some controllers needed to wait even longer. Dozens of controllers sued in 2019, alleging that the federal government withheld extra time and different pay in violation of the Honest Labor Requirements Act.

"Plaintiffs, and people equally located, even to this date, haven't acquired any fee for extra time work they carried out throughout the FAA's lapse in appropriations," legal professionals for the controllers wrote. The Trump administration fought in court docket to have the case dismissed, however that movement was denied. The events finally agreed to a settlement earlier this 12 months.

The Nationwide Affiliation of Air Visitors Controllers, the union that represents these controllers, declined to touch upon the lawsuit. The union referred questions on the latest shutdown to the FAA.

NPR requested the Federal Aviation Administration and Division of Transportation to elucidate how controllers would obtain the again pay they're at present owed, however neither company responded.

Nevertheless Secretary Duffy has expressed help for the concept of paying a $10,000 bonus to air site visitors controllers who labored by way of the current shutdown, a proposal first floated by President Trump in a Fact Social put up on Monday.

"The air site visitors controllers who did not miss a day, they got here for each scheduled shift that that they had, they need to get a bonus," Duffy stated Tuesday in Chicago.

"President Trump, sensible!," Duffy stated. "We're going to pay them a bonus that'll be $10,000. Relying on what number of we've, they need to come to the White Home, and he ought to current them with their checks."