Federal employees take a hit during the government shutdown (Flickr Creative Commons, user vpickering)

Schlaffer is just one of more than 800,000 federal employees to be furloughed because of the government shutdown last Tuesday—and there is still no resolution in sight. Bitter arguments among Democrats and Republicans over the Affordable Care Act and budget cuts have led nowhere thus far, meaning that a huge portion of government workers, including Schlaffer, are being forced to wait it out.

Schlaffer works as an IRS revenue agent in Baltimore, where about 700 employees—nearly 100 percent of his branch—were furloughed. He was with the agency the last time the government shut down back in 1995, but he says this one hits him harder, especially as the president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

“The first time, I was younger and didn't give it any serious thought and just rolled with the punches,” Schlaffer says. “But as you get older you think about things more seriously—especially with my union involvement in the last 10 years.”

Although Schlaffer has had some time off from work, he has been busier than ever—attending protests and giving speeches at union headquarters in Washington.

Usually he is busy dealing with grievance reports from federal employees who are unhappy with their performance appraisals; now, he is responding to questions about furloughs.

“There are a lot of low-paid employees not getting their paychecks right now,” Schlaffer says. “There was one employee about three months ago who is almost completely blind and a single mom who came to me with some monetary questions.”

The woman had to go to court for an eviction notice and was behind on all of her bills.

So Schlaffer went to management to see how he could help, and he found out that she was due for an annual bonus—good news. But now, he says, he is worried about her well-being with the news of this shutdown.

Schlaffer seems more concerned for others than he is for himself even though his own family is living paycheck-to-paycheck for now.

“If we don’t get paid for the time we were out, that'll put a very serious dent in our savings,” he says. “My wife retired from the federal government, and she may have to dip into her 401k for pension money that was earmarked to pay off our home equity loan, which is pretty high because we used it to pay for education loans.”

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Currently, Schlaffer and his wife are financing medical school and nursing school for two of his daughters. Schlaffer says that he is lucky that they can afford to pay the bills for now, even if he is not happy about the possibility of dipping into their reserves.

“We’re lucky we even have a 401k," said Schlaffer. "Other people who don’t have them will be affected more seriously.”

Not only that, but morale is low, Schlaffer says. The current situation is not good for the future of federal jobs—especially when it comes to recruiting and keeping newer, younger employees.

“Younger employees might say, ‘This federal career isn't so great. When I took this job, I thought I'd get promoted and get pay raises, and that's not happening.’” he says. “Now they've got this icing on the cake. If this happens this year, what will happen next year? Some folks may decide to go to the private sector. I thought government work was a secure and stable environment,” Schlaffer says with a laugh. 

But he’ll keep on fighting the good fight, speaking on behalf of his fellow furloughed employees and helping them navigate the uncertain territory.

“It’s rewarding for me to be able to help other individuals by doing what our union asked us to do—to speak out to these congressmen and tell people this is ridiculous and that we want to work,” Schlaffer says. “We do important work for the American public. Getting that message out is satisfying to me.”

Reach Staff Writer Cassie Paton here; follow her on Twitter.