TSA workers finally receiving paychecks again, but agents still 'frustrated'

TSA workers finally receiving paychecks again, but agents still 'frustrated'

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 27 directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately. But even as money hit bank accounts on Monday, many workers said the relief they were hoping for has not fully arrived.

CHICAGO - President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 27 directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately. But even as money hit bank accounts on Monday, many workers said the relief they were hoping for has not fully arrived.

"Grateful but frustrated" is how some TSA workers are describing their latest paychecks.

What we know:

Darrell English, local president for TSA, says officers are thankful to get any money at all after going weeks without full pay, but he says many workers did not receive what they were expecting.

"Some officers still left in the turmoil because of the incorrect payment that they got," English said. "It's devastating. And again, it affects the morale of officers when they have this issue where they came to work, did what they had to do, and still this, this error, where their pay is not what they expected to be, not because of the of something they did, but because how things were put into the system."

English said TSA workers' time sheets were missing up to 40 hours of pay. 

"I don't think it was intentional as far as the pay itself, because it was, it was given, it was pushed out at the last minute," English said. "It really didn't give TSA management a lot of time to make corrections for the most points by most part, because of that, that made them just put in what they could put in."

Still, he says the impact on workers has been impactful. 

"We lost officers," English said. "Officers could only do so much, take so much and put their family through so much till they have to make a decision on finding a more secure job or financial being."

According to English, some TSA officers have been evicted, some have slept in their cars, and many are still trying to recover financially after weeks of uncertainty.

"These officers are lies have been turned upside down," English said. "They their debt is their credit is messed up. Some of them got evicted. Some of them had lost their possibly could have lost their homes."

He said the problems are also hurting TSA recruitment. 

"Now you're going to have possibly new people that are coming in that's going to think twice now, if they really want to go down that route, and after seeing what they did to TSA officers in the previous months," English said.  

Dig deeper:

The local president for TSA pointed to the 2025 shutdown, which ended in November, saying some of that backpay was not fully sorted out until January.

What's next:

The next TSA paycheck is expected April 10, but English said it could still take months for workers to receive their full backpay.