As the federal government enters its third week of a shutdown, a legal and political dispute has emerged over whether furloughed federal employees are guaranteed to receive back pay once funding is restored. A new memorandum from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has challenged what many lawmakers, unions, and legal analysts long considered settled law under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA). At the heart of the latest government shutdown lies a