Some US courts to limit operations on Fridays due to government shutdown

By Nate Raymond

Oct 23 (Reuters) - Several federal district courts plan to tell some employees not to come to work on Friday and one plans to close entirely for the day, as the judiciary continues reducing operations after running out of funds it had used to sustain paid operations during the U.S. government shutdown.

At least three of the country's 94 federal trial-level courts — in Alabama, Alaska and Connecticut — are limiting operations on Fridays to meet legal obligations during the shutdown of keeping core judicial functions in place while furloughing workers who are not deemed essential, according to a Reuters review of court websites.

The judiciary began curtailing operations on Monday after depleting court fees and other funding sources that are not dependent on Congress passing new spending legislation. The funds had kept paid operations running since the shutdown began on October 1.

The judiciary has furloughed some of its more than 30,000 employees while requiring numerous others ranging from parole officers to law clerks to continue to work without pay.

How to determine which employees are essential and must remain on the job has been left to individual courts to assess, as the courts cease some functions unrelated to hearing cases, such as hosting naturalization and attorney admissions ceremonies.

Several courts, such as those in California's Eastern and Southern Districts — which cover Sacramento and San Diego — and Arizona, have designated all staff as essential, citing heavy caseloads and obligations under the U.S. Constitution to hear cases and ensure that criminal defendants can have speedy trials.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the judiciary's administrative arm, has advised courts that under the Antideficiency Act, they must "furlough employees when they are not performing excepted activities," according to a memo.

The Administrative Office has also advised that under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, judicial employees will get paid retroactively either way, furlough or not.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama this week announced that as a result of the shutdown, its courthouses in Montgomery, Dothan and Opelika will close on Fridays and that its employees will be furloughed on those days.

Any deadlines in criminal and civil cases that had been previously set to fall on a Friday on the days its courts are closed will be automatically extended. "We regret any inconvenience these changes may cause," the court said in a public notice.

In Connecticut, the state's federal district court announced that it would on Fridays close its clerk's office, which like in other courts handles administrative functions and manages court records and filings.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Shea in an email said the decision in Connecticut was made "because that was the only way we could be sure that all of our employees, including those in the Clerk's Office, would be fully occupied with 'excepted activities,' as required by the Antideficiency Act."

In Alaska, the federal courts in Anchorage and Fairbanks will operate at "reduced staffing levels" this Friday as well as on Friday, October 31, and the Juneau courthouse will close entirely on those days due to the shutdown, according to the court's website.

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US judiciary begins furloughing employees during government shutdown

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