Growing Concern For Disabled Janitors Impacted By Government Shutdown

The seemingly never-ending government shutdown continues to affect hundreds of thousands of federal workers, many of those in the cleaning industry.

According to an article in the Washington Post, the shutdown is impacting AbilityOne, a federal program that designates some federal contracts for nonprofits employing people who are blind or have other disabilities. Several of these contracts use people with disabilities to perform the janitorial work.

With the shutdown, these contractors are forced to send workers, including janitors, home without pay. And unlike furloughed federal employees, government contractors hardly receive backpay.

The growing concern is that many of these employees have “significant disabilities” and may not be mentally prepared to cope with losing their job. In addition, these workers may no longer be able to afford the medications they need.

Already, nearly 150 nonprofits have been affected in 43 states.