Things didn’t end well for the last guy…
Sure. “We’ll pay you eventually, double swearsies, but you are required to work until then” totally isn’t slavery.
They’ve never not been paid, doing otherwise is fraud even for the government.
And no, that’s not slavery. Slavery is a forced servitude, you’re not a slave because your mom asked you to take out the trash for “$20 next week if finances work out”.
Not the everything is literally slavery or literally Hitler no matter how hard you wring your hands and stir the pot.
Do you know what happens when you live paycheck-to-paycheck, like the vast majority of Americans, and they stop paying you for a while? Do you know what happens to children in those situations?
Opm holds 90 days in reserve, appropriations usually issues another 90 if needed, add another 90 days by zero interest loan and you have pay for approximately 270 days.
Currently opm projects no non payment, stop doomsaying when this happens periodically like clockwork.
Ed: also distinctly different from slavery given the voluntary nature of employment. It’s bad, it isn’t however “literally slavery” no matter how hard you clutch your pearls.