WESTON, FLA. (WSVN) - - A Transportation Security Administration employee who works at Miami International Airport is one of hundreds of thousands of federal employees struggling to make ends meet in what has become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The employee, who asked not to be identified or show his face on camera, said he has been going to work every day but is not getting paid for it.
“It’s strange that we’re not united, but the person that’s in charge of us is,” he said. “He just doesn’t really care about us.”
The employee is a family man who suddenly finds himself struggling to provide for his loved ones.
“I have a family of four children, and my ex-spouse is also employed at TSA, which is not making any kind of situation better,” he said.
Now his bills are piling up.
“I’m pretty responsible with my money, so I can make it stretch a little bit, but hopefully not more than a month,” he said.
Meanwhile, a South Florida law firm is doing its part to help. Roy Oppenheim of Oppenheim Law in Weston is offering free legal services to federal employees until they receive their next paycheck.
“There are going to be a lot of folks who are now going to be facing foreclosures, they’re going to be facing evictions, they’re going to be facing the inability to close on a home,” said Oppenheim, “and what we’re going to do is, we’re going to help these folks and make sure that their rights are properly represented.”
The partial shutdown has affected thousands of federal workers around the nation, many of whom have not gotten a paycheck. As a result, TSA workers have been calling in sick, forcing airports to shut down terminals, like Terminal B at Houston’s Bush Airport.
Concourse G at MIA remained partially shut down throughout the weekend, as officials scrambled and shuffled TSA agents to other terminals to help fill in the gaps. That terminal is scheduled to reopen on Monday.
If you would like to contact Oppenheim Law, call 954-384-6114 or email roy@oplaw.net . The firm’s website is www.oppenheinlaw.com. Its address is 2500 Weston Road, Suite 404, Weston, FL 33331.
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