Posted by: Evie Fordham

A Transportation Security Administration higher-up threatened to classify missing workers as absent without leave Monday as many TSA screeners consider calling in sick later in January if the government shutdown lasts long enough to affect their pay.

Martin Elam, the deputy federal security director overseeing five airports in California, wrote the following in an email to TSA personnel at Palm Springs International Airport according to CNN:

Due to excessive unscheduled absences recently experienced at PSP (Palm Springs International airport) that has adversely impacted security operations, if you have an unscheduled absence, you will NOT be placed in an intermittent furlough status.

Your unauthorized unscheduled absence will be coded by payroll as absent without leave (AWOL). At the conclusion of the government shutdown, an employee’s AWOL status may result in progressive disciplinary action.

Workers calling in sick have had “a minimal impact on operations,” TSA spokesman Michael Bilello told The Wall Street Journal.

But air travelers could see growing airport security lines if Congress and the White House are unable to come to an agreement that reopens the government as President Donald Trump continues to demand funding for a southern border wall.

There are conflicting reports about whether enough TSA workers have started calling in sick to significantly slow down security lines. Over 5 percent of TSA employees at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport called in sick Friday compared to the typical 3.5 percent, reported TheWSJ.