How the government shutdown will affect HR

Summary

Congress failed to avert a federal government shutdown, and key employment-related agency functions will be curtailed or paused until funding is restored. The article outlines immediate effects for employers and HR teams: immigration checks and some visa-related steps face delays, E-Verify will be offline, the EEOC will accept charges but largely pause investigations and mediations, the DOL Wage and Hour Division will operate with a tiny fraction of staff and limit enforcement to life-or-property emergencies, and the NLRB’s already precarious operations are likely to stall. SHRM warns of operational disruption for many organisations and urges a swift political resolution. The piece also recalls the 2018 shutdown’s five-week length and estimated $3 billion hit to GDP as context for the potential scale of disruption.

Key Points

USCIS is fee-funded so many immigration filings should continue, but the DOL will not process foreign labour certification applications (LCAs), which can delay visa-related hiring.
E-Verify is expected to be completely unavailable: employers cannot access accounts, run reports, enrol or act on cases during the lapse.
The EEOC will docket new charges but suspend investigations, cancel mediations and pause some litigation — creating likely backlogs.
The DOL Wage and Hour Division will operate with very limited staff (only around 10 employees), halting routine regulatory work and most enforcement.
The NLRB — already without a quorum — will see many day-to-day functions pause, risking backlog on union petitions, elections and unfair labour practice cases.
SHRM warns roughly 25% of organisations could face daily operational disruption and 23% of annual financial goals may be at risk if the shutdown lasts even a short time.
HR teams will need to manage furloughs, payroll adjustments and heightened employee anxiety while documenting decisions and keeping communications tight.

Author style

Punchy: this is a fast-moving operational headache for HR teams. Read the detail if you handle compliance, payroll, immigration or union relations — the legal and administrative knock‑on effects will matter to day-to-day decisions.

Why should I read this?

Short version: if you deal with people, hiring or compliance, this will land on your desk — pronto. It tells you which federal services stop, which keep running, and where you’re likely to see paperwork and enforcement delays. Handy quick takeaways: keep doing I-9s, prepare to process E-Verify checks when the system returns, document all furlough/pay decisions, and don’t assume investigations or filings are proceeding normally.