The IRS furloughed nearly half its workforce earlier this week, but is now warning remaining staff they may also be sent home — at least temporarily — if they take too much leave during the government shutdown.

The agency is telling some shutdown-exempt employees that they will be furloughed if they take more than eight hours of leave per pay period.

Three IRS employees told Federal News Network that the policy change was communicated verbally to the workforce, and that no email or memo was sent.

Federal News Network also obtained a recording of an IRS manager communicating these changes to employees. The IRS and the Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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According to these sources, IRS employees were told that if they take more than eight hours of leave per pay period, they will be furloughed for the remainder of the pay period, and “may or may not” be called back to work during the next pay period.

According to employees, management pulled them aside on Thursday and informed them about the new payroll and timecard changes.

An IRS employee told Federal News Network on Friday that “we just furloughed dozens of employees.”

“We were told they were safe. Now they’re not,” the employee said. “I’m having to call employees, and hear them crying, break down. This is very hard. Everything changed today.”

A second IRS employee said they had just signed paperwork outlining that they are exempt during the shutdown, and that leave and pay would continue as normal.

“I was told I would be furloughed for the remainder of the pay period, due to taking more than eight hours of leave in a pay period,” the second IRS employee said.

The employee’s furlough exemption states that they should continue working during the shutdown, as of Oct. 8. “All your time reporting, leave, and pay remain as usual,” the notice states.

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The IRS, which is preparing for next year’s filing season, kept all its employees on the job for the first five business days of the shutdown. But its initial contingency plans didn’t specify what would happen if a lapse in funding extended beyond Oct. 7.

The employee said they were given a standard furlough notice. The template notice on the IRS website states that furloughed employees are guaranteed back pay once the shutdown ends.

But on Thursday, the IRS walked back that guidance that included the back pay guarantee. The IRS is now deferring to the Office of Management and Budget, which on Tuesday floated the possibility that furloughed federal employees would not be guaranteed back pay.

The employee said their furlough notice email “mysteriously disappeared from my work email.” A copy forwarded to their personal email, however, remains in their inbox.

Legislation that President Trump signed in January 2019, which ended a record 35-day government shutdown, guarantees back pay to these employees once any shutdown ends.

The exempt employee was told they will return to work later this month, but they have been unable to get this update in writing.

“I asked for a guarantee that I would return,” the employee said, but their direct manager said they couldn’t make that promise.

According to a second employee, individuals who have been furloughed for taking more than eight hours of leave in a pay period will be brought back to work the next pay period, but was told “it’s not definite.”

The IRS, in updated contingency plans it posted Wednesday afternoon, plans to keep 53% of its employees working, as the shutdown enters its second week. A majority of them work in public-facing taxpayer services positions.

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The agency began an “IRS-wide furlough” on Wednesday morning, “for everyone except already-identified excepted and exempt employees.”

The IRS is preparing for next year’s filing season and scrambling to prepare for major changes to the tax code as part of the “Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump signed into law in July. Some of those changes will go into effect as soon as next year’s filing season.

Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Federal News Network on Wednesday, prior to this new leave policy, that he would “be very surprised if much of the remaining workforce was furloughed.”

“The Constitution clearly states that ‘emergency’ employees, who can work without an appropriation, are those involved in protecting life or property. Property includes federal tax revenues. So there is no reason to furlough those in the IRS working to prepare for the start of the filing season beyond the customer service employees,” Koskinen said.

Larry Gibbs, another former IRS commissioner, agreed that furloughs could hamper the agency’s preparations for next year’s filing season.

“The filing season next year has many risks. Current furloughs are one of them,” Gibbs said.

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or reach out on Signal at jheckman.29

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