Welcome to the website providing information about a lawsuit filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims on behalf of about 25,000 employees of the United States Government who were required to work during the October 2013 government shutdown. The lawsuit claims, and the Court has now concluded, that the United States government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) during the shutdown by failing to pay these employees minimum wage and overtime compensation when due.

We currently are trying to identify over 300 persons who opted into the lawsuit between 2013 and 2015 but whom the Government cannot find in its records. If you receive a communication from Mehri & Skalet or Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch in June or July 2018 seeking to confirm your name and agency and other essential data as of October 2013, please respond immediately. If you don't, you either could hold up the settlement for everyone or you may be excluded from an award entirely.

To learn more about the theory of the lawsuit, click here. 

For case updates, click here.

To read the Court decisions in favor of the Plaintiffs and other significant papers in the case, click here.

This website was created and is maintained by Mehri & Skalet, PLLC,one of the two law firms that represents Plaintiffs and other employees who chose to join the lawsuit. Heidi Burakiewicz, who was with Mehri & Skalet when the case was filed, is now a partner at Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C. To learn more about the attorneys handling this case, click on the firms’ names. 

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please send an email to

shutdownlawsuit@findjustice.com.