J. David Cox Sr. on the Struggles of Federal Employees

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Yes. Well, just tell me this — the — you know, where your suit lies. Do you have any hope of winning this? Have you tried this before?

COX.: We have tried it before and we got a favorable ruling in the past and winning the suit. However, with the partial government shutdown, our justice system is now shutdown in America. So, therefore, the case can’t move forward. 800,000 people are being required to either go to work without pay or sent home from their jobs through no fault of their own with this government shutdown that President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have imposed upon the American people.

AMANPOUR: I mean, it’s Kafkaesque. On one hand you’re saying you suing the government but the ministry in charge, so to speak, is also out so it can’t process it. Just tell me, what are the grounds of your lawsuit? On what basis are you suing?

COX.: We are suing over for the fact that the laws require employees to be paid at least the minimum wage and employees have not been paid the minimum wage because they’ve received zero in their paycheck. So, therefore, they weren’t paid properly. Also, the law requires employees to be paid time- and-a-half or overtime, and again, they were not paid for anything. So, the lawsuit deals with that. We believe we will prevail in the end. But currently, 800,000 Federal employees are literally in soup kitchen lines, asking for free meals, trying to barter, as President Trump said, for their rent, for their mortgage payments, their car payments, they are suffering tremendously going to work every day but not being paid on payday.

AMANPOUR: I think one of the things that really sort of illustrates this kind of desperation is always when people need to survive by using food stamps, and even that is at risk of grinding to a halt. Tell me what the status of the food stamp issue is right now and how many of your workers that would affect?

COX.: The Food Stamp Program is administered by the Department of Agriculture, which President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have chosen to shut down and will not open at the current time. So, therefore, the Food Stamp Program, SNAP as it’s called, is getting in jeopardy. There are many people that are working for the Federal government now who aren’t receiving no income would be eligible for it. But, again, those resources are starting to dry up also because of this partial government shutdown. We’re back to — Senator McConnell needs to do is call for a vote in the United States Senate to open up the government, the president sign the law and continue to operate our government.